More Pics of Luc's Shaving Gala

Okay, I told you all my phone camera leaves just a little bit to be desired. The following pictures were taken by a friend of Rita's and Marley's who is like a total professional. Don't you judge me.

On a side note... Try counting the number of pictures showing Luc laughing at his friends while they are having their heads shaved!


This is the very beginning of the gala. As you can plainly see, Seth isn't quite sure that he wants to go first. It's like he's thinking, "My friends had better follow through with this. Does somebody else want to go first?" Can't you hear Karen Carpenter in the background singing to Seth, "We've Only Just Begun..."



Again in this picture you can feel Seth's anxiety about losing all his hair.



Poor Seth! Look at him. He swears he did NOT feel like he looks in the pictures!

Luc Laughs #1



Okay, now it looks like Seth is feeling a little better about the whole thing. He might be alright after all. I bet Seth's mom, Angela, is so glad she had those family pictures taken last month! (Check out Braydon's "Friar Tuck")

Luc Laughs #2



Now we're getting somewhere!

Luc Laughs #3



"Please, someone, anyone, tell me I look okay! I've never been bald before! I was born with hair!"

Luc Laughs #4



Lyndee's contribution



Head Shaving: Dedicated to Lucas Orton



Braydon has so much hair! Poor guy! His hair was all over the place! Plus it's thick, coarse, and curly!



I love this picture of Reece!



Another good one of Reece! His cousins in Vegas are loving showing these to all Reece's Vegas friends!

Luc Laughs #5



Luc Laughs #6



There goes Arthur's hair!



Arthur is so ticklish! He could hardly stand it!



Redge is such a great sport!



David's hair is thick and curly like Braydon's! I think they needed to use machetes on those two!



David is so manly, he can totally pull off pink!



I love this picture because it's a great rear shot of the Friar Tuck Cut! Plus, there's my nephew, Caleb, the one in the camo shorts.



Check out Zach! He was so brave! He has a sensitive head, and he was just dying!



Now here's some dedication! Steve Scherer is a counselor/teacher at Rockwell, and he was totally excited to support Luc!



Luc was the very last one to have his head shaved. Here he is with his mom, Marley. Luc's staring at all his friends with their naked heads, and doesn't it totally look like he's thinking, "Man, my friends are UGLY!"



Check out my husband's bald head!



The final line up: Redge, Reece, Arthur, Braydon, Seth, David, Luc, Zach, and Steve! Way to go guys! You all look fabulous! New haircuts just in time for school pictures which are scheduled to be taken October 3rd! Does anybody know when they're doing retakes????

Luc Orton's Shaving Gala

Lucas Orton is one of Reece's friends. He's such a good human. Sadly, tumors have grown in his left shoulder. Luc has been fighting cancer for several years, and just recently began an aggressive chemo treatment. Luc did not love the idea of losing his hair again so we decided to make it a major event. Several of Luc's friends, a teacher, siblings, and even Redge decided to shave their heads with Luc. Today was the Shaving Gala! It was awesome. I forgot my camera, and as much as I love my phone, the camera part of it is not sensational! At any rate, I've posted a few pics here, and when I receive more I'll post them, too. Under each picture I will give a little tiny caption describing the situation.

To start things off we all had Luc's initials shaved in our hair. Yes, I can say "we" because my head is like the third picture down from the top.


Here is Arthur's first turn at being shaved. Arthur is good friends with Zach, Luc's little brother, and the little boys were not about to be left out of the fun!



Redge did not even hesitate to sit in the chair!



I'm so not kidding! I totally have Luc's initials shaved into my head! I did not go with the bald look. I'm no Sinead. However, I do have to say I'm totally enjoying the new cut! I love not having hair hanging on the back of my neck! This is like a built in air conditioner! I don't know that I'm ever going to grow it back! And to think I was growing it out to get the Farrah cut! Not now, no way!!!
















Here's Luc, and yes that's a "Y." Guess what color Luc bleeds?








Reece could hardly wait for his turn in the chair! I totally wanted Marley, Luc's mom, to leave Reece's hair like this for a few days. Sadly, the board president from Reece's high school was at the gala, and decided it was "too extreme." But, at least we have the picture! (Hey, Dex, can you believe your cousin is actually smiling while his hair looks so nasty???)




Check out Braydon! Man, it's not even fair! He's still cute even with a Friar Tuck cut!




Who knew Seth Bell could totally pull off a mohawk! Just wait until you see him bald! His to die for blue eyes are HUGE!!!



Redge said I have to post this picture so that whenever Quincy is having a bad day he can just pull up our blog, have a good laugh, and then get back to work. Isn't my husband so great for going along with this???




It took forever to get Arthur totally shaved! The ladies kept having to stop because he's so ticklish!



But, now look at him! He's so cute all bald! He loves it!


What a great day! It was totally fun! I'm afraid we completely wore out Luc! It was so fun to see them all there! David, Braydon, Reece, Arthur, Zach, Redge, Mr. Scherer, and Seth Bell are all such great sports to go along with Luc in this adventure. Paden, Seth Hudson, and many others were there to lend moral support, and we all appreciate them, too! I wonder if Luc is now thinking, "You know, I had to shave my head, but I'm not so sure I want to hang out with a whole bunch of bald dudes!" Luc, we love you! Thanks so much for including us!

September 11

I'm sitting here thinking that tomorrow is 9/11. I can't believe its been seven years since that horrible day.

Reece was in first grade at the time. He was so little, but I knew he had some understanding of what was going on in our country at the time. I didn't ever want him to forget so, just a few days after the tragedy I asked him some questions about what happened, and I wrote his answers verbatim. I've bolded his words.

1. What happened last Tuesday? The planes got crashed into a building, and then the building hit the other building.

2. How do you feel about this? Not so well because lots and lots of people died. Everyone in the building died, and everyone on the planes died.

3. What does all this mean to you? Those people don't believe in the Untited States and don't love our states the way we do. They don't love us or Jesus.

4. What do you think this will mean for our country? The 100 bad people will kill more people and the states will have less people until people have babies. The bad people will crash more planes.

5. What have you seen people do because of this? Courtney and Whitney (they are twins, and were cheerleaders at the time) wore black bands on their arms. People singing, "Please Bless the USA," and flags in people's yards.

6. What does this mean for our family? That we should stick together. We should love each other, and pray everyday that we should always be together. (I was pregnant with Arthur at the time.)

7. What did you think when this happened? I thinked, "You know what- these people are mean. Mean, mean, and dumb because they killed some people from our country." They just wanted to to kill 100 people and this is the way they did it. And, they killed themselves, too. I think they are crazy and bad.

I pray we all remember.

Enoch Quincy Edwards

Mae is a big sister! Quincy's wife, Amorette "Mo", had baby number six on September third. After many, long hours of name deciding they have chosen Enoch Quincy Edwards! He looks just like his brothers! To me he seems more Tucker color than Dexter. We'll have to see. Quincy says he already has really dark eyes. He is absolutely perfect; weighing in at 8lbs 4oz, and measuring 19 1/2 inches. Amorette had a rough time in delivery and recovery, but of course she'll never complain. She's amazing! I can't wait to meet little Enoch! I just want to kiss him and squeeze him! My kids keep asking, "When are we going to Las Vegas!" As excited as they are, I think I'm more anxious to see him than just about anyone!

My Brother and the Puppy

My Uncle Keith has another article in a church magazine this month. This time it's in the Friend, and he wrote it about my dad. I just cry whenever I read it. It is so sweet, and so true of my dad. My dad has a real love for animals, but as he said in a recent letter to his seven kids, "Yes, I love my dog and love my trumpet, but I love my kids and grandkids even more than the dogs and trumpet. However, more important to me than all those things is my wife, and I love her the very most."

I just really love my dad. I've always wanted more people to see my dad the way I do. He is so quiet and shy, and people rarely get the opportunity to really know him. I'm so grateful beyond words to my uncle who took the time to let the whole world see just a little bit of who my dad really is. He's a kind, loving, intelligent, honest man. I remember in college when living with my Uncle Karl, Keith's identical twin, Uncle Karl said to me, "I remember when your parents were engaged. Grandma said to your mom, "You'll have to be the disciplinarian in the house. It's just not in Arthur to scold or punish anyone or anything." It's so true. I've never heard my dad yell or curse in my whole life. For those of you who know my dad, the yelling includes the years before my dad's one vocal chord was paralized and he could yell if he really tried. My dad never spanked me.

President Benson said, "The words and the way they are used in the Book of Mormon by the Lord should become our source of understanding and should be used by us in teaching gospel principles. Are we using the messages and the method of teaching found in the Book of Mormon and other scriptures of the Restoration to teach this great plan of the Eternal God?" (Ensign, May 1987, "The Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants".) This is how my dad taught me. I can especially relate to Alma the younger's sons as Alma counseled them in chapters 36-42 of Alma. Alma sat with his boys individually, he didn't speak to them as group. He probably did speak to them collectively several times, but I find it significant that he spoke to each of them one on one on this occassion. I think he did this for several reasons. 1) I know how much my kids love having one on one time with Redge and me. It shows them that we love them individually, and that each of them matter to us. Perhaps Alma wanted some one on one time with his sons. 2) I have learned that I cannot speak the same way to all my kids. I can be very blunt with Taite. For instance, one day Taite asked why Reece gets to go out for night games, but the other three do not. Keep in mind that Arthur is 6, Taite is 8, Seth is 9, and Reece is 13. I answered Taite with, "Because I like Reece better than I like you." She immediately turned around, scowled at me, and rather loudly stated, "Nuh-uh, you love us all the same!!!" Of course I went on to explain my reasoning, but my point is that if I had said the same thing to Seth it would have broken his little heart right in half! As we can plainly read in these chapters, Alma does not use the same manner of speech to speak with all of his boys. 3) Remember what Elder Holland said in General Conference address, "The Tongue of Angels," May 2007? "And try not to compare your children, even if you think you are skillful at it. You may say most positively that 'Susan is pretty and Sandra is bright,' but all Susan will remember is that she isn’t bright and Sandra that she isn’t pretty. Praise each child individually for what that child is, and help him or her escape our culture’s obsession with comparing, competing, and never feeling we are 'enough.'" Alma had different things to discuss with each of his boys, and he was probably trying to protect each of them from feeling jealous or insecure. At any rate, my dad did this. When I had done something wrong, didn't do something I needed to do, or needed counsel of any kind my dad came into my room with me, and behind closed doors he counseled me in the ways I should go. He counseled in ways similar to Alma's methods. He told me things I shouldn't do; similar to the way Alma spoke to Corianton. My dad also gave me specific things I needed to do; just as Alma told Helaman he needed to keep a record of their people. I also discussed with my dad about things I could improve in my life; in the same ways Alma suggested to Shiblon to bridle his passions, and to Helaman to counsel with the Lord in all his doings. Without fail, just as Alma did, my dad also included his testimony of Jesus Christ, doing just as we read in 2 Nephi 25:26, "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." If there was any reproving involved my dad was sure to obey the counsel found in Doctrine and Covenants 121:43, "Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy." Taking the time to remind me of all my good qualities, and how very much he and my Savior love me. Kind of like the promise Isaiah often repeats, "For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still."

My dad is a fabulous example of love and charity. Again, I am so grateful to Uncle Keith for seeing this, and sharing it with everyone. What a great compliment to his older brother.

In the Weeds

I love Joy in the Garden. I like listening to her on KNRS AM 570 each Saturday at 9AM. I love digging for information on her website: joyinthegarden.com. A few years ago while researching how best to get rid of dandelions and morning glory I found her best advice regarding these noxious weeds, "The best way to get rid of these weeds is to never let them in your garden in the first place." So true.

So, after 3 years, I'm almost completely rid of dandelions and morning glory, but let me tell you it has been a fight! I share a property line with a family who is not quite so concerned with weeds as I. They mow, trim, and keep their lawn looking nice, but instead of ridding their lawn of dandelions they just mow over them when they begin popping up. I found that my most difficult weed battle occurs near our common property line.

At first I was really frustrated with the ever growing weeds, but then I realized the answer is actually quite simple. I had to stretch my lawn border about 3 feet into the other family's yard. So, I started killing weeds beyond the borders of my own yard, and guess what??? Weeds ceased popping up in my yard!

I thought about how much this is like my home. If I want my home to be free of weeds, I have to kill them beyond the walls of my own home. For instance, if I want to radiate the light of Christ so my children can feel the spirit then I can't go to movies that don't bring out the best in me, but if I spend more time at the temple I will be able to show my kids how truth really is happiness. If I want my kids to come home from school, friends, work, etc., weed free I have to ensure they don't go places that cultivate weed growth. Church, FHE, scripture study, etc. all spray a fine misty layer of weed killer on my kids so that when they leave my home hopefully they won't come back saturated with weed pollen.

Man, there are times when this life seems beyond my capabilities, but then I work in my garden, and I remember the simpleness of the gospel, and all my troubles seem to shrink to their correct sizes, and I know, "All is Well."