She's got the look!

Straight or curly? What do you think?

Comments welcome,

Jaimie

Piranhas

Jaimie's on Warrensburg Piranhas swim team this season. This was a meet in Lawrence, Kansas. She also swam at a meet in Gladstone, and has a couple more meets this winter. She goes to practice 4 days a week and they work very hard. At this meet, she beat all her past times. She swam in the 200 freestyle, 200 breast stroke, and 200 backstroke, and the Freestyle Relay.

Gotta love these people!

Back to Bucharest

Jeffrey's back in the big city! Recently, the church was featured on a program in Romania. The video is 10 minutes long and mostly in Romanian. You can see it at http://stirileprotv.ro/stiri/romania-te-iubesc/romania-te-iubesc-mormonii-o-confesiune-religioasa-controversata.html.

It is great that the church was able to get this publicity! Great things are happening in Romania. Click on the link to the Mission President wife's blog - Small things...(bottom right) - she shares many of their adventures. She has also started a blog listing the miracles happening in Romania.

Occasionally, Elder Divis shows up on the blog. That should happen more frequently since he is back in Bucharest and living near the mission home now.

Plaza Lights

Giant screen we were watching! It's David Cook!

For 79 years Kansas City has had the wonderful tradition of the Plaza Lighting Ceremony every Thanksgiving. The Plaza Lights are the oldest continuous lighting ceremony in the U.S. They set up a big stage and have some entertainment until it's time for the big lighting. Typically the crowd numbers near 300,000 every year. We were a block away from the stage, but had a big screen to watch so we didn't miss a thing on stage!

Each year a celebrity is invited to flip the switch. This year it was David Cook -American Idol winner and native Kansas Citian. They always choose a child from the audience to help them, so David chose his niece. She was about 9 years old and very cute. They asked her to say something nice about her Uncle and she couldn't think of a thing. Then David whispered what to say in her ear and she just giggled. Afterwards, Jaimie and Becka (cousin) got his autograph - on Becka's coat!!!

And for those who remember Santa's Workshop - it is still there! We stopped by the house after we left the Plaza. He's added some new displays, but some of the original stuff is still there. This guy has been decorating his house forever. This was a regular stopping off point every year when we were kids.

Apparently it is still popular. There were lots of people and even a bus there. The homeowner was out front talking to everyone. The garage is original (Santa's Workshop) along with the roof display, but a lot of the stuff is newer, like the talking tree. Santa coming out of the window is an old one, too. I remember seeing that when I was a kid. The owner said that he just leaves Santa's Workshop up in the garage all year round, but the rest he takes down and puts it back up every year. He has to start in the summer. Even inside his house there are Christmas dolls and stuff everywhere!