The Ecstasy

December has been quite a month, to say the least. 

I'll try to fill you in.

Samantha had her first clarinet/jazz band concert. 

She was really thinking that she wanted to quit this gig but HARK! A chance to

PERFORM!?! Hello! Why would she pass up that opportunity. 

The pic below says it all.

Busy Grammy Linda was so nice to come.

Abby got her braces off. 

Look at those beautifully straight teeth!

Worth every penny, every pain.

Our orthodontist is fabulous. And by that, I mean their office staff, the assistants and their office. Which makes a big difference. They gave Ab a bag of "Foods you shouldn't have eaten over the last two years." Somehow, besides taffy, she found a way to consume some of these.

Brad and I acknowledged our 14th wedding anniversary. 

That's all we had time for this month. I adore this guy. He had to speak in one of the Spanish branches for our church. They have translators but he chose to write the talk, have my mama-sita translate it and send him the voice memos for pronunciation and he delivered it in Espanol. The kids and I surprised him by attending (I usually am napping after church) and he did such a great job. I was so proud of him. Didn't understand 99% of what he said but he can roll his "R"s like a pro.

My parents came for a visit. They are such good sports to want to 

be part of our crazy life even for a short time. Grandpa is a double

good sport for playing Mario Kart on the Wii with Max.