Forest Lawn Memorial

We took a fun excursion yesterday to Forest Lawn Memorial in Los Angeles.  Joseph's great grandmother and great uncle are both buried there, and he's been wanting to record their gravesites in our family history records.  On a whim, we called Grandma and Grandpa Larsen and they quickly cleared their schedule so that they could come along.  The cemetary is smack in the middle of the Los Angeles sprawl, but when you enter it, you are suddently driving on lush green hills that overlook the city.  It is quite serene and very peaceful.

It took a very long time to find Adelia M. Smith's grave, but we finally found it!  Grandma had brought an entire bag of tools, so we clipped and spayed until it looked as good as new.  Of course, when your with Pam, nothing's complete without a full bouquest of flowers!

After our visit to the graves, we visited an exhibit containing a 50 ft x 200 ft painting of the scene of crucifixion of Jesus Christ.  I don't think I will see a painting that size again.

Daily life

Our neighbor, Malcom, recently qualified to be a motorcycle cop.  A few days after he brought his new bike home, he took it out on the street for the kids to try out.  They were impressed by the lights, rifle, flashlight, and all the other bells and whistles.  

Emmy was not content while I was taking this picture.  As the kids were jumping off, she managed to wriggle her way to the bike and once on, did NOT want to get off.

James has been pretty touchy lately.  When I pick him up from school, he's either super happy or super grouchy and seldom cooperative.  One day, I took him out of school for a detox day.  I figured that since we were butting heads so much, we needed some good alone time.  It must've worked, because after we got home from our errands, he unloaded the entire car with a huge smile on his face.  It was so cute, I just couldn't resist a picture.

What would we do without our plasma cars?!

Puppy face

I don't normally post pictures of myself, but I love having a good picture with my furry friend.  I sure love my little Pilot.  He always finds me in the evenings for a good rubdown.  

Pinewood Derby

Pinewood Derby came swiftly this year.  David's car was all silver with silver weights on the back.  He calls it the silver bullet.  Since his car did so well last year, his expectations were a bit high, so when he did not qualify for the final race, he was a very disappointed.  Despite that, the silver bullet did finish first among the Bears.  Good job, David and Dad!  This first photo shows the intensity of the race as David and his friend, Ethan, look on...