Christmas Day 2010

Here are the videos Sonia took on Christmas Morning.

Christmas Eve 2010 - Pajamas

Here are videos that Sonia took on Christmas Eve when the kids opened up their Christmas pajamas.

Clockwise

Elder Jensen, Elder Godoy, Haslam, Elder Payne, Elder Orellana

Elder Velasquez and the beautiful hostess

Your mother showing some of the cookies we had for dessert.

Your mother preparing Christmas dinner for 8 of us.

She did this with the little hotplate you see by the frying pan

and one electric frying pan. We had chicken, corn, refried beans,

a green salad and a fruit salad. We had sweet breads and ice cream for dessert.

Your mother showing a hat made by one of the young women in the district

Your mother and Carolina Baez with a picture of Carolina and her dance partner

Your mother viewing an award Carolina Baez won

Your mother viewing achievments of young lady to her left

Carolina Baez has won several first place award for typical dances

Christmas Morning

Here is video from Christmas morning 2010. We all got up around 7am and had everyone use the bathroom and brush their teeth before they could come upstairs. I captured video of what it looked like right after Santa came and before the kids tore through the presents.

Max and Garrett December 2010

This is a video of Max and Garrett as they watched the video of the little lambs playing that Grandmama and Buddy sent.

Your mother viewing a young lady's achievements at the table she had set up

Sonia setting up display for Young Women of Excellence night

Your mother spoke to the Young Women in the district and did a marvelous job.

Your mother being a surrogate grandmama

Simon Garcia Gaona, Elder's Quorum President - Mendoza al Sur Branch

Vern and Sonia Larson

Elder Haslam, Vern and Sonia Larson, Elder Dart

Elder Dart's last Sunday in the field

Christmas Eve Day 2010

Here are videos we took of Reid while talking to Mom and Dad.

FHE

Last night (Monday, December 13), we read the Christmas story in Luke 2 for Family Home Evening and used the nativity scene that I bought last year to help tell the story. So here is a video of the boys showing you the nativity scene. And the other video is of them showing you are tree and the stockings.

Max's Birthday

For Max's birthday, he wanted to go to Jumpin Jacks.

October 30, 2010

Since Halloween fell on a Sunday this year, we did trick or treating on Saturday the 30th. There was a strom looming and I was looking to see if other children were out and I didn't see any but Dee said, 'you better go now'. So we did. We went to 2 homes and then all of a sudden the clouds opened up and dropped rain and hail and a lot of wind. We were trying to run back to the house and for every step we took, the wind pushed us back 2. Thankfully Dee saw us through the window and ran out to help me get the boys back in the house. Needless to say, we were wet and the boys were crying. But I dried their costumes and we waited for the storm to pass and went at it again.

October 29, 2010

I am finally getting around to posting the videos I recorded on my Flip video (a gift from FranklinCovey). Here are some videos from our ward Trunk or Treat party and my birthday dinner at Mi Rancheritos.

Christmas Decorations

Mom, here are some of the decorations around the house that I promised to send you. It's never quite the same without you and Dad here, but we know you are exactly where you need to be--serving the Lord and the people of Argentina. I hope this helps you feel a little bit of home! I know Christmas down in Argentina feels a little more like the 4th of July here since it will be the height of summer, but you'll get to enjoy the purest part of Christmas and just focus on the Spirit of the Savior as you celebrate His birth.

It's like President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's message in the Ensign this month:

"We who have heard the glorious message of the coming of the Son of God, we who have taken upon us His name and have covenanted to walk in His path as His disciples--we must not fail to open our hearts and minds and truly see Him.

The Christmas season is wonderful in many ways. It is a season of charitable acts of kindness and brotherly love. It is a season of being more reflective about our own lives and about the many blessings that are ours. It is a season of forgiving and being forgiven. It is a season to enjoy the music and lights, parties and presents. But the glitter of the season should never dim our sight and prevent us from truly seeing the Prince of Peace in His majesty.

Let us all make this year's Christmas season a time of rejoicing and celebration, a time when we acknowledge the miracle that our Almighty God sent His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem the world!"

May the Lord bless and protect you while you are serving Him and His children in Argentina. We love you and pray for you often.

Baby Reid

Thanksgiving Dinner Videos

OK, here are the videos we took at Thanksgiving Dinner and later that night:

Thanksgiving at Mimi's Cafe

We went to Mimi's Cafe for Thanksgiving this year--all the yum and none of the clean up!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

Well, this is the first time I've ever done this, but I got the tree up (thanks to Dee's and Bryan's help) and decorated before Thanksgiving. I know it's a bit early, but it's been a lot of fun to have at least the biggest part of decorating done. Here's what it looks like:

Elder Larry Gunther and Sister Marie Gunther and us.

The Gunthers were here for our zone conference today. We took them to Walmart following the conference.

Elder Godoy, Elder Jensen and us.

These are out current zone leaders. Elder Jensen believes he will be transferred next Wednesday as he has been here for several months.

Elder Ashworth, Elder Jensen and us.

These two elders were our original zone leaders. Elder Ashworth was sent to Bella Vista in the Goya disrict to be the branch president there. He was back in Corrientes for our zone conference.

Elder Andrews, an assistant to the president and us.

Elder Andrew's mother works as a graphic artist for Deseret Book

Monday, November 8, 2010

Cattle grazing in the field (if you squint hard you can see them) between Formosa and Resistencia

Monday, November8, 2010

A variation of the landscape between Formosa and Resistencia

Monday, November 8, 2010

Taken between Formosa and Resistencia.

Formosa is about 135 miles North of Resistencia. The vast majority of the landscape is very similar, varying in the trees and bushes one can see. There are literally hundreds of thousands of acres, if not millions of acres of undeveloped land along this route, spotted by an occasional farm house or cattle feeding in the fields. The grasses are so high that quite often they come up to the belly of the cows.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Elder Guillermo Delcoro, Elder and Sister Larson, Elder Diaz, Area Authority Seventy

Taken at a zone conference in Formosa, Argentina

Guillermo is the stepson of Ramon Amado Olivera. He is serving a mini-mission in Formosa.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Elder and Sister Larson with

Ramon Amado Olivera from the

Mendoza al Sur Branch,

Corrientes, Argentina

Jumpin' Jacks

Max invited us to join him at Jumpin' Jacks to celebrate his birthday. The kids were in heaven bouncing around. Afterward, we went to Dairy Queen to get some ice cream cones.

Here are some videos of the night. Two things to look for: 1. Blake starts out legs first on a big slide and quickly ends up head first and 2. Baby Reid tasting some ice cream--you'll love his reactions but later, he tossed it all up. Jessica wonders if he's lactose intollerant, so she may have to wait until he's two to introduce him to dairy products.

Sorry for the shaky footage on some of them. Let's just say I'm not in the running for videographer of the year.

There is a colony of black ants that has a nest in our side yard. We frequently see them coming from the parking strip outside of our house carrying leaves with them to store for their food. They are especially busy before a rain storm comes. They are a good warning sign to be prepared for the rain. They are also a great example of industriousness. Under each green leaf is one single ant carrying what has to be close to an equivalent of its own weight. It doesn't stop. There are always other ants ahead of, behind, or to the side of the one carrying the leaf. Perhaps they are cheerleaders but we like to think they are typical laborors here in Corrientes: one working and a few gathered around watching.

Family and friends of Italo, Brisa and Areceli

Samira, your mother and Barbarita

Samira, your mother and Barbarita

Your mother invited Barbarita Obregon to a baptism the elders had on Saturday, October 30, 2010. She enjoyed the baptism and will hopefully go to Church with us this Sunday.

Trucks come and pick up the normal garbage during the night but they won't pick up clippings and tree branches, etc. Workers with horses come and pick up the clippings and limbs and depend on the people who leave the clippings and limbs to pay them for cleaning up the mess. This young man made three trips because there was so many clippings and the owner of the house dissed him. We had three bags of leaves and clippings that we gave him and gave him 6 pesos. He had asked for 5 pesos.

Trunk or Treat

Gina's birthday was Friday and that night she and Dee were taking the boys to their ward's Trunk or Treat. Then afterwards, we were going to go to dinner.

The night was perfect--it was a teeny bit cool and no rain clouds in sight. I was able to leave work 30 minutes early and made it to the church parking lot shortly after Gina and Dee. I parked in the back since I didn't have any candy with me. Gina and Dee put a cute Halloween backdrop in their trunk and Dee was smart enough to bring a camping chair to sit down in while he passed out the candy.

Jessica got there shortly after I did and I was able to snap some shots of all the munchkins in their costumes. She gave Dee her bowl of candy and he stayed at the car and passed out candy while Gina, Jessica and I took the kids around to each of the trunks. Some of the families decorated their trunks or cars. And some of the adults were in costume--there was even one guy dressed up like Jack Sparrow. The kids really enjoyed it.

After we went around the entire parking lot, the families went into the cultural hall and ate chili. And when they went in, we went to Mi Rancherito in downtown Payson to celebrate Gina's birthday. Garrett dug right into the hot sauce and kept at it--that's what is all over his mouth.

Here are a bunch of pictures of the night:

BLAKE AND GARRETT

SYDNEY AND GANG

DANCING

GARRETT WALKING

GARRETT DANCING

GARRETT

GARRETT

WATER TANK

Many houses have water tanks on top. This is to insure that water is available if the city has problems with the water pressure. The small tank on the very top is ours. The larger tank to the left if our neighbors. Our house is like a duplex. During the daytime the water in the tank gets warm from the sun. In the summer it more than likely gets hot.

STREET WE LIVE ON

This is the street we live on. We live on a u-shaped street. The street runs in front of the houses at each end of the street we live on. We live at the bottom of the u.

TRASH RECEPTACLE

The trash receptacle across the street from our house. The receptacles are up high to keep the dogs from getting into the garbage but it is not unusual to see horses getting into the garbage looking for something to eat. Your mother does more than her share of picking up the trash from the ground.

BARBQUE AREA BEHIND OUR HOUSE

Video of barbeque area at the house

ENTRY TO OUR HOUSE

This is the entry to our house. The front of the house does not face the street, it faces the house next door to us.

DOMINGO AND BARBARITA OBREGON

Domingo and Barbarita brought us dish of food that she had prepared. They arrived at that same time that the zone leaders arrived. The child is their grandson. The zone leaders are Elder Godoy, from Buenos Aires, and Elder Jensen, from Las Vegas. The came over on p-day to spend some time with us.

This is a one horse carriage. We frequently see these carriages being drawn by two and sometimes three horses. The horses are almost always very malnourished. They work all day and then are turned loose at night to find something to eat. If there is no grass they go through the garbage just like the dogs or pigs do.

Garbage collector. There is a large open field where these scavengers have been dumping the garbage they pick up. The city dug a trench along the side of the field so they couldn't have access to the field so they now dump the garbage in the trench.

Alejandro Gabriel Leguizamon - newest member of our branch.

Look for his story in chapter 8.

A variety of glassware.