This is a little project that I have been working on for my primary kids...

 Like the last book -- wait for it to load and click on "full screen"

Our US History Super Field Trip

I fell off of the blogging bandwagon--but I am posting today!  Just finished up a photo book of our trip and wanted to share it.

Wait for it to load, and then click on "full screen"

 

A little of the holiday and forging into 2012...

Sitting at the bar in my kitchen, the warmth of the sun streaming through the window is almost uncomfortable.  I am munching on a little lime and cherry flavored popcorn (thank you Elise), and thinking about what I should type here.  I have been listening to Madi's collection of songs as I have been working around the house, and maybe I shouldn't do that because now I am sentimental and somewhat melancholy.  The kids are at school, John is at work, and today is the last day of my break before starting a new semester at BYU-I.

Seth will be coming home from Argentina in 28 days.

So the holiday is almost finished, and we are plunging into 2012 hoping for a great year.  Before I put Christmas 2011 to bed, I wanted to share a few photos.  We decided to pack up Christmas this year and take it to Boise.  Although I always felt that spending Christmas Eve and morning anywhere other than home would be too much work, it came together just fine and thanks to wonderful hosts, was great!

I have learned that I can go to school and accomplish the holidays in a satisfactory manner. (thank goodness for Amazon.com!)  Here is a sample of our Christmas in Boise:

Grandma Jean's tree

Christmas Eve with the Hull's

Christmas day with Bingham cousins

Grandma Sharon's tree

how Madi feels about her dad taking pictures with his new camera...

present mayhem with the Bingham's

Tweny-nine people and two little puppies in one room...

Garden A Glow at the Botanical Gardens, Old Penitentiary

My honey and I :-)

silly girls!

new Christmas cameras...

There is no snow here in Rigby--very weird.  That is what we get for complaining about the wet last year.  At least we were fortunate to not invest in ski passes for this season.  Tomorrow morning I will be off to Education Psychology and Literacy I.

Labor Day in Jellystone...

Okay, it is not yet fall, but I really like autumn time...so I am jumping ahead with my new background. I have not been good at all about keeping this up-to-date, but I decided to post photos of our first trip in our new little a-liner to Yellowstone Park. It is fun to have it so close to us now, although we don't get there often. We happened upon Todd and Bethany on their bikes, so there are a couple of photos of them as well :-)

This is at the park in West Yellowstone--the girls finally outweigh John!

John in our "new to us" a-liner

"Trout Art" in West Yellowstone

Mattie Culver's grave on the Firehole River (I am kind of a history person--you can get on google and find out about her)

At Black Sands Basin

More West Yellowstone--Taylor is heavier and taller than Madi now...

I think the sun was too bright for our Madi (squint). They are serious when they tell you to watch out for bears (this is why we now own an a-liner--it is hard-sided so it is a little more difficult for them to have you for a bedtime snack while you are sleeping :-)

The lake at Fishing Bridge

Playing on the beach at Fishing Bridge

Aren't we artistic?

Bethany and Todd with their bikes and gear (102 mile bike tour around the Yellowstone loop for their first anniversary)

We were excited when we happened upon them!

Hopefully our indian summer will last a bit longer!

My Madi...

...musically gifted, much loved, compassionate and generous, no one I would trade her for :-)

From Elder Hull...

Nazareno's house, the one built out of the orange bricks, is the average humble home. Argentina is built out of these orange bricks. They are cinderblocks put together with sandy mortar. In caseros they built a seven story apartment building out of them. If there is an earthquake in argentina, argentina will probably fall apart. The gross thing about the armadillo is that there isn't anything inside,It is just the shell with the tail attached. We had a couple of baptizms. They are both from less active families.

Nazareno wants to be baptized, but he is very frustrated that he has to get married first. We have to wait 10 more days for the divorce of his girlfriend to go through, and then it takes another month to get them married. In past years divorce was impossible because of the influence of the catholic church in Argentina.

Now it is legal, but it usually takes two years and two month's salary to get it finalized. So about half of the population is living together in sin.... It is really bad when you find two good investigators who are living together and both married....to sombody else. It is very difficult for them to progress. But Nazareno is lucky because the divorce will be finalized soon, and he can be married within two months. (Which gives him plenty of time to stop smoking).

I went to the zoo today. I kissed a grizzly bear, petted a Lion, rode a camel, and threw fish heads to a seal. I had to put a piece of dulce de battata in my mouth before the bear would kiss me though. My companion is leaving this next week. And it is very possible that I could train this next transfer. Thank you for the packages. He was very happy to receive his package and did squirt me several times. The problem is that the two junior companions now have water duels daily. I have not yet received the birthday package, but we get mail tomorrow, so it will probably come then.

I lost my keys at the zoo, which makes me sort of sad, because now I have to go make copies of the other key. And I have to ask the branch president for a copy to the chapel.

General conference was good, but I had to watch it in Spanish, which made it a little less good.

Thank you very much Grandma Jean and Grandpa John for the package. The chocolate was wonderful. The pants however, which a year ago would have been too big, are now a little too small. I am a little chubby right now. They do however, fit my companion, so now he has to buy me pants here.

I love you all,

Elder Hull