The gloves are off.

I've decided to stop apologizing for my constant posts. Sometimes I go weeks without writing. From now on I'll post when I feel I have something to post.

I recently shaved my head! Yes, I did it. I came to the conclusion that I could really care less about where or how I get haircuts. From now on Court will give me haircuts. For no reason other than to do something new and interesting, I asked her to shave it really short. Afterward, for a couple of days she would just laugh when she saw me. She would often forget it was cut short. Once in the store she came out of the restroom and busted out laughing. I asked why and she said it was because she didn't recognize me. Needless to say, it took some getting used to. Now I think we both actually like it.

Here is the before.

From Aug. 2010 Haircut

Here is a shot during.

From Aug. 2010 Haircut

And finally, the end results.

From Aug. 2010 Haircut

From Aug. 2010 Haircut

From Aug. 2010 Haircut

Heartbroken

Sorry. When you are gone for a month you have a lot to catch up on. I prmise this is my last blog for about another week or so.

Recently, I received an email from a friend with a link to an article about the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints(Mormons). Below is the link.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/in-new-tv-ad-campaign-mormons-pitch-message-to-middle-america

The article was pretty accurate. I had the feeling that the writer truly thinks the new advertising for the church was really only to prepare for Mitt Romney to run for President again. It is not true.

The thing that really bothered me were the comments afterward. I only made it through about 20 before I was literally sick to my stomach. I couldn't believe that people could be so crude and inappropriate. Some comments were not supported by truth. Some were sad truths. People make mistakes, nobody is perfect. I don't expect people to agree with our beliefs. I don't expect everyone to like us. However, I do expect that people treat us respectfully. I try to treat others with respect. I'm not perfect and if I have offended anyone I will personally apologize and try to make it right.

If you ever have questions about what we believe as members of this church, don't hesitate to ask me. I'd love to explain what we believe. If there ever comes a time when people are saying inappropriate things about yours or others beliefs, I hope that all of us will be able to stand up and demand that everyone is treated with the same respect we would expect for ourselves. I'm grateful for all my friends growing up who treated me respectfully. I hope that they felt that respect in return.

A double shot of blog.

It's true. You are hearing from me again for a second time today. I apologize if the last one was enough for one day. If you want you can stop now and read this later.

Directly following the Court's family trip to Europe, Court and I went to spend a week with my family on the Oregon coast. What a difference between this week and the two previous weeks. We went from hot weather, a small family and lots to see to a week of no plans, cooler weather and a whole lot of family.

I have a six siblings, all of which and are married and having kids but one. all of us made it but two. We rented a huge house, that fit all of us, right on the Oregon coast. Although the weather was not the best it didn't stop us from relaxing and enjoying being with family.

We had a great time, each of the children took care of food for one day. This was fun because we got different kinds of food and no one was stuck cooking all week. Midweek we took family pictures on the beach. It was quite a task to get everyone looking and smiling at the same time.

I thought it was funny that I don't really read to many books during the year. However, after this three, almost four week vacation, I read almost five books, one of which was the seventh Harry Potter book. Interesting.

Anyway, here are some pictures. Enjoy.

Oregon Beach - 2010