Not Just For Dead People

After picking up a new & improved Jared from EFY@Santa Barbara, we headed to the Forest Lawn Memorial Parks & Mortuary. I did not tell him where we were going. I can hear it now, "A mortuary? Mom!..." He was so happy and loved his week at EFY but totally exhausted and wanted to just get to a soft bed. Being completely worn out means that his week was a success. He stayed up late having fun with new friends from several different states, and he got up early to have another great day learning about the gospel, playing team games, sharing testimonies, dances, and eating great food at the cafeteria. 

He laid in the back seat and I expected him to fall asleep to begin the "catch-up" process that most teenagers do on the weekends. 

Here came the first surprise of the new Jared:

He was going through the songs on his iPod and deleting- yes, D E L E T I N G - all the bad songs. Explicit songs that were "CLEAN" or RAP (did you know it stands for rhythm and poetry? Really, now...) or any with suggestive lyrics. I was so amazed. I've been talking with all of my boys about the music they listen to for years and the influences it has on them. I gave the same answers when I was their age. "I just like the tune." I don't listen to the words." "It's not that bad." But the real change has to come from within. I was personally seeing this change. PTL :)

Forest Lawn Memorial Parks are the Cadillac of cemeteries. They are beautiful and ornate. The grounds are lush. There is beautiful statuary all over. There are four cemeteries in the Forest Lawn system in California. Glendale was the first one. Many of the really big named stars like Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Robert Taylor and Nat King Cole, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson just to name a few are buried here.  However, we came to see The Last Supper Window. It was beautiful. The Memorial Court of Honor also has Michelangelo's statuary on display.

Hall of the Crucifixion and Resurrection. The Crucifixion is the largest framed mounted to canvas painting in the world, standing 195' long by 45' high. The painting depicts Christ just before He is nailed to the cross. A different perspective.

Left 1/3 of painting

Center 1/3 of painting

Right 1/3 of painting

The Resurrection

The Christus

It was a great stop on the way home from Santa Barbara. Forest Lawn Memorial Parks and Mortuary, Glendale, California, not just for dead people.

A Week To Just Play

Warning: Lots of photos...


Jared was at EFY in Santa Barbara. The plan was to drive him there, stay in Huntington Beach with a friend. What shall I do for a week? Hmmm... How about camping? My friend Rosemary and I put some necessities and a tent in my car just in case we could pull it off. We were hoping to get to Sequoia National Park, neither of us has ever seen the Giant Redwoods, Bucket list check :)

After leaving Jared on the beautiful Santa Barbara campus, Rose and I explored the Old Mission at Santa Barbara. "Founded by the Franciscan Friar Fermín de Lasuén on the Feast of St. Barbara, December 4th, 1786, Old Mission Santa Barbara, also known as the Queen of the Missions."The weather was very pleasant, not too many tourists and we had no schedule to stick to. Sounds like the beginning to a great week.

Fig Tree in the Cemetery

Chapel

"Cemetery (1789) - Santa Barbara's culturally diverse early settlers are buried here as well as approximately 4,000 Chumash Indians, including Joana Maria, the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island. Her life is portrayed in the book "Island of the Blue Dolphins." She was buried here in 1853 (location unknown today)." (santabarbara.com)

Beautiful View of the Pacific Ocean

Now, off to the Sequoia National Park. Rose and I met while we were living in Virginia. We became fast and forever friends and found that we enjoyed many of the same things. One of those things was girls camp. This is going to be our own camping fun and following our own schedule, with just  ourselves to keep in line :) 

Post Office, along the Ventura Highway 

Giant Redwoods

We wanted to see the sunset and the best spot was on Moro Rock with a 360° view. It has a 797-foot-long stairway following natural ledges and crevices. It has 400 steps that lead to the summit. It was beautiful, peaceful and a perfect ending to a great day. 

Tokopah Falls Trail was a fun hike surrounded by God's beauty. At the top of the hike was a fairly gentle stream of snow melt. The places we stopped to cool our toes would have been completely submerged with cold snow melted water during the spring's run off.

Mustang Clover

Crimson Columbine

Black Bear (yes, he looks brown) crossing our path, yikes!

Moss covered pine

Another Brown Bear spotted on our path

We had a fabulous time exploring the Giant Redwoods, the views of the Great Western Divide at Moro Rock, the quiet that non-existent cell tower phones bring, the smells of pine trees and of course yummy S'mores around a campfire with a best friend.

Up next: 

Forest Lawn Memorial Parks and Mortuary Exhibits 

EFY Santa Barbara

Jared was able to attend EFY (Especially for Youth) at the UC Santa Barbara campus this year. He was not happy that I had signed him up to go to EFY this year, no matter where it was. Most of his friends had signed up to be at one of the Provo sessions. I missed the sign-up date to get in with any of his friends. Last year he went to the AFY (Adventures for Youth) in Rexburg, Idaho and had a great time. Who wouldn't have fun river rafting, rock climbing, meeting cute girls... Any ways.... Santa Barbara it is! Plus we would stay with friends from our time in Virginia and have a great vacay!


We left early EARLY on Friday morning for Huntington Beach to stay with my friend Rosemary. We were going sailing in the afternoon and needed to get there quickly. Jared was looking forward to this excursion, as was I. We set sail with the West's aboard the "Serendipity" from Alomitos Bay. It was quite windy which made for a fast sail and a lot of fun. We saw seals that congregated on the buoys, oil rigs off the shore of Long Beach, pelicans, wind surfers and para sailors and kite surfers. Truly a very fun day.

Saturday, Jared had a surfing lesson in Santa Monica. I loved watching him. All that skateboarding and snowboarding paid off. He did great!

Santa Monica Beach

Monday was off to Santa Barbara (are we the only ones upset that Psych is not really filmed in Santa Barbara?) for Jared. He was not so happy to go. He kept asking me not to sign him up next year. I gave him the typical mom answer of "we'll discuss that later" hoping that he would catch the spirit of the experience during the week. All I will say is that the son I dropped off on Monday, July 9th was not the same one I picked up on Saturday July 14th! Hallelujah... PTL... I looked in his eyes and asked "Well? How was it?" He grinned and said "AWESOME! Can I go again next year?" Priceless, I thought to myself. 

"Sure, I'll go again next year, Mom!"

Proposition 65

While in California with Jared, I had been shown a sign posted as "Proposition 65." What is this about? 



PROPOSITION 65 IN PLAIN LANGUAGE!
In 1986, California voters approved an initiative to address their growing concerns about exposure to toxic chemicals. That initiative became the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, better known by its original name of Proposition 65. Proposition 65 requires the State to publish a list of chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm. This list, which must be updated at least once a year, has grown to include approximately 800 chemicals since it was first published in 1987.


Proposition 65 requires businesses to notify Californians about significant amounts of chemicals in the products they purchase, in their homes or workplaces, or that are released into the environment. By providing this information, Proposition 65 enables Californians to make informed decisions about protecting themselves from exposure to these chemicals. Proposition 65 also prohibits California businesses from knowingly discharging significant amounts of listed chemicals into sources of drinking water.


The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) administers the Proposition 65 program. OEHHA, which is part of the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA), also evaluates all currently available scientific information on substances considered for placement on the Proposition 65 list.

I started noticing Proposition 65 everywhere, but it seems that Proposition 65 itself has become some­thing of a non-issue in California. The warn­ing signs in the windows of stores, banks, car­washes, gun shops (caution – lead in bul­lets are a known cause of birth defects. No kid­ding, this is real), park­ing garages, and essentially all other pub­lic places (churches? sacramental water & bread?) that they have become invis­i­ble to Californians. Since there is no penalty for post­ing too many signs, every­one posts them every­where.

Starbucks

Really? Not the Happiest Place on Earth.

Not a real big surprise here...

I even saw it posted at the Forest Lawn Cemetery. I guess the dearly departed should be concerned as well.


Still, it was a very fun trip to California! Thanks, my Friend!

Pups...

My boys have always loved to build forts. A lot may have to do with me, I was, am and will always be a tomboy.

I vividly remember every spring as a kid when the top soil arrived for all the yards in the neighborhood. Hours were spent making tunnels, roads and cities for my marbles. I tried it with the Matchbox and Hot-wheels cars, but to no avail. Marbles were the best. I had quite a few from playing marbles at school. Who knows, my bucket of marbles may still be at mom's in a closet somewhere. Note to self: Find marbles at mom's.

Besides the dirt mounds at spring, I also loved to climb trees. I really wanted a tree house, but instead found some scrap 2x4's that would be dangerously nailed to the branches for a seat. Can you say, "Tetanus shots up to date?" Anyways... When it began to get too cold to stay in the tree tops, I started forts inside. I used cushions from the couches and lots of blankets and sleeping bags. Then Aunt Phyllis made a great tent to put on top of a card table. It was simple and fun. She even made the top like a circus tent when we put a Coke bottle underneath.

Now my boys make forts. Forts that they sleep in, watch tv in, (yes, they put a tv inside the fort), read in, play video games in, etc. 

Taylor still making forts with his companion:

This fort belongs to Jared and Otto: