Argentina Part Dos

We loved having Christmas in Argentina, it was very new and exciting! Christmas in Argentina is very different than I am used to. For one thing, on Christmas Eve, we went outside just before midnight and put out our lawn chairs to watch a firework show. We could hear the fireworks going off all over the place and it was just like the 4th of July!

Ryan took this really cool picture

Also, it was 90 degrees on Christmas and very green and nice. I picked peaches from the tree to have with our Christmas breakfast, wore short sleeves and loved it.

We had the couple that is in the mission office and the 5 elders that are in the mission office over for breakfast and a fabulous white elephant gift exchange game. There were some great gifts on the table and we had a lot of fun.

The elders singing us some Christmas songs while
we finished making breakfast

the whole group playing the white elephant game

putting together the lego car that one of them gotElder Briggs (on the right) got a framed picture of my dad
it was the hit of the party, especially since my dad
didn't know that I wrapped it up and put it on the pile :)

Me and Ryan's spoils. Ryan got a really cool gaucho mug
and I got a binocular thing along with a scavenger hunt list

While in Argentina, we discovered something that we had absolutely no idea about...Argentines are completely crazy about ping pong. In every LDS church building we were in, there was a ping pong table. Who knew? They also have one at the mission home and after we had breakfast and played the games, the elders, my dad and Ryan all headed out to play ping pong. As you can tell by the pictures, they got very into it. The ties were tucked in, the pants were rolled up and it was a serious competition. It was very funny!

The day after Christmas, we left to see the rest of the mission so my dad could finish the interviews. This time we were headed west towards the Andes mountains. We saw the most beautiful views I have ever seen in my life. Here are a few of the views.


One of the most beautiful things we saw were these fabulous yellow flowers that covered the mountainsides. The pictures do not even do justice to how brightly colored these flowers were, it was amazing!

these are the flowers up close

and this is how the mountains look

There were also a lot of these other flowers that were so bright and pretty. I really couldn't get over how beautiful it was!!

I also thought this plant was cool...forgive my fetish with plants. :)

We went to Bariloche, which is a very pretty tourist town in the Andes. The views are beautiful and they have a lot of really fun shops. We had fun walking through the town and seeing the sites. We loved it and Ryan really would not mind going back during the winter so he can go skiing down there because they apparently have great snow skiing...I hope we can really go down because I could definitely go down again!

The very cool Catholic church in Bariloche

Sadly, after Bariloche, it was time to drive back to the mission home, which meant it was almost time to go home. Luckily, on our drive back to Neuquen, we stopped at the large dinosaur on the side of the highway that leads to the dinosaur museum. Apparently there was a lot of dinosaurs down there in the Neuquen area and it is just like Vernal, Utah with the dinosaur museum and such. So just for Andrew, the nephew that is obsessed with the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point...here are some pictures of the dinosaur!

After another day at the mission home, we had to leave. I was so sad. I really didn't want to leave. The people in Argentina are so amazing and I fell in love with it down there. One of my favorite things about the people in Argentina is how welcoming they are. They hug and kiss everyone and it made me feel so welcome, even though I couldn't understand a word that they said. I really, really loved Argentina and I loved being with my parents. I love them so much and they really are the coolest. I am so lucky to have such amazing parents that are amazing examples and are so fun to be around. I was so sad to have to leave them but I am so grateful that they let us hang out with them for two weeks. Thank you Mom & Dad! We love you!!