Christmas

Christmas Eve day was hectic around here! Kyle's flight was in 2 and a half hours late because of de-icing problems with his plane. He arrived around 1:00.

About 5:00 we got a call from Kyle's brother, Ty, "Call mom right away." Kyle's dad, Dennis, had a heart attack shoveling snow and was in the ER in Enumclaw. Luckily Kyle's mom is an x-ray tech and immediately recognized the signs of a heart attack. His heart stopped after they reached the hospital and after a round of CPR, used a defibrillator and then one more round of CPR brought him around.
The hospital in Enumclaw isn't equipped to deal with heart attacks very well (from what I hear). Fortunately, the ambulance from Auburn was already at the Enumclaw hospital. They took Dennis to Auburn and did an angioplasty, removing 3 blood clots.
Dennis was in the ICU for almost 24 hours then they moved him down for another night. He got to go home yesterday!
Kyle thought about going home but as his dad made such a speedy recovery he's decided to stay here for now. His flight out is on the 1st. He's talked to his dad several times on the phone and he sounds like he is doing well.
The whole experience was very scary and we are so thankful that he is okay!

Christmas Eve in the middle of all this we went to Aunt Glenna and Uncle Errol's with all of the family for desserts. (Our Wed. night mtg was moved to Tuesday this week.) With everything going on, I didn't bring a camera for once!

I did get pictures Christmas day, though. We had just our immediate family over for lunch and presents. I can't remember the last time we were all together with just our family! Of course that still made us 10 adults and 5 kids.
The brothers, Camden and Carter, visit their cousin Jhett. Ellie's dress was so cute and I thought her expression and smiles in both of these pictures were too cute to pass up! I couldn't decide which one to post so I posted them both. The food was of course absolutely delicious. You have to use this time of year as an excuse to eat too much!! Bree and Carter eating at the kids' table. Jhett cheerfully waiting for his food. Time for presents! Kyle wanted me to post all these pictures of Bree, she got a camera and every picture I took of the group had her taking a picture of me back in it! Looks like I'm getting a taste of my own medicine... Kyle practicing to be an uncle. Games Kyle and Kari

FOXNEWS.COM HOME > SCITECH

No Matter What Happens, Someone Will Blame Global Warming

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Global warming was blamed for everything from beasts gone wild to anorexic whales to the complete breakdown of human society this year -- showing that no matter what it is and where it happens, scientists, explorers, politicians and those who track the Loch Ness Monster are comfortable scapegoating the weather.

FOXNews.com takes a look back at 10 things that global warming allegedly caused — or will no doubt soon be responsible for — as reported in the news around the world in 2008.

1. Cannibalism

In April, media mogul Ted Turner told PBS's Charlie Rose that global warming would make the world 8 degrees hotter in 30 or 40 years. "Civilization will have broken down. The few people left will be living in a failed state, like Somalia or Sudan, and living conditions will be intolerable," he said.

Turner blamed global warming on overpopulation, saying "too many people are using too much stuff."

Crops won't grow and "most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals," Turner said.

2. The Death of the Loch Ness Monster

In February, Scotland's Daily Mirror reported that 85-year-old American Robert Rines would be giving up his quest for Scotland's most famous underwater denizen.

A World War II veteran, Rines has spent 37 years hunting for Nessie with sonar equipment. In 2008, "despite having hundreds of sonar contacts over the years, the trail has since gone cold and Rines believes that Nessie may be dead, a victim of global warming."

3. Beer Gets More Expensive

In April, the Associated Press reported that global warming was going to hit beer drinkers in the wallet because the cost of barley would increase, driving up the price of a pint.

Jim Salinger, a climate scientist at New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, said Australia would be particularly hard hit as droughts caused a decline in malting barley production in parts of New Zealand and Australia. "It will mean either there will be pubs without beer or the cost of beer will go up," Salinger said at a beer brewer's convention, the AP reported.

4. Pythons Take Over America

Giant Burmese pythons – big enough to eat alligators and deer in a single mouthful – will be capable of living in one-third of continental U.S. as global warming makes more of the country hospitable to the cold-blooded predators, according to an April report from USAToday.com.

The U.S. Geological Survey and the Fish and Wildlife Service investigated the spread of "invasive snakes," like the pythons, brought to the U.S. as pets. The Burmese pythons' potential American habitat would expand by 2100, according to global warming models, the paper reported.

"We were surprised by the map. It was bigger than we thought it was going to be," says Gordon Rodda, zoologist and lead project researcher, told USAToday.com. "They are moving northward, there's no question."

5. Kidney Stones

A University of Texas study said global warming will cause an increase in kidney stones over the next 30 years, the Globe and Mail reported in July.

Scientists predict that higher temperatures will lead to more dehydration and therefore to more kidney stones. "This will come and get you in your home," said Dr. Tom Brikowski, lead researcher and an associate professor at the University of Texas at Dallas. "It will make life just uncomfortable enough that maybe people will slow down and think what they're doing to the climate."

6. Skinny Whales

Japanese scientists, who have claimed that the country's controversial whaling program is all in the name of science, said in August that if they hadn't been going around killing whales, they never would have discovered that the creatures were significantly skinnier than whales killed in the late 1980s, the Guardian reported in August.

The researchers said the study was the first evidence that global warming was harming whales by restricting their food supplies. As water warmed around the Antarctic Peninsula, the krill population shrank by 80 percent as sea ice declined, eliminating much of the preferred food of the minke whale.

The whales studied had lost the same amount of blubber as they would have by starving for 36 days, but the global warming connection couldn't be proven because no krill measurements are taken in different regions.

7. Shark Attacks

A surge in fatal shark attacks was the handiwork of global warming, according to a report in the Guardian in May.

George Burgess of Florida University, a shark expert that maintains an attack database, told the Guardian that shark attacks were caused by human activity. "As the population continues to rise, so does the number of people in the water for recreation. And as long as we have an increase in human hours in the water, we will have an increase in shark bites," he said.

Shark attacks could also be the result of global warming and rising sea temperatures, the Guardian said. "You'll find that some species will begin to appear in places they didn't in the past with some regularity," Burgess said.

8. Black Hawk Down

Although it happened in 1993, the crash of a U.S. military helicopter in Mogadishu that became the film "Black Hawk Down" was blamed on global warming by a Massachusetts congressman in 2008.

"In Somalia back in 1993, climate change, according to 11 three- and four-star generals, resulted in a drought which led to famine,” Rep. Edward Markey told a group of students who had come to the Capitol to discuss global warming, according to CNSNews.com. "That famine translated to international aid we sent in to Somalia, which then led to the U.S. having to send in forces to separate all the groups that were fighting over the aid, which led to Black Hawk Down."

9. Frozen Penguin Babies

Penguin babies, whose water-repellant feathers had not grown in yet, froze to death after torrential rains, National Geographic reported in July.

"Many, many, many of them—thousands of them—were dying," explorer Jon Bowermaster told National Geographic. Witnessing the mass penguin death "painted a clear and grim picture" of global warming.

"It's not just melting ice," Bowermaster said. "It's actually killing these cute little birds that are so popular in the movies."

10. Killer Stingray Invasion

Global warming is going to drive killer stingrays, like the one that killed Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, to the shores of Britain after a 5-foot -long marbled stingray was captured by fishermen, the Daily Mail reported in June.

A single touch can zap a man with enough electricity to kill, the Mail said, and global warming is bringing the Mediterranean killers north.

"Rising sea temperatures may well have brought an influx of warm water visitors," sea life curator Alex Gerrard told the Mail. "Where there's one electric ray, it's quite likely that there are more."

The Week

It's been a busy week... Grandma slipped on ice and broke her kneecap over the weekend so we spent 3 hours in a packed ER (the lady next to us waited 5 so we were lucky). She has to have surgery Friday. Mom and I haven't had time to make our Christmas cookies like we were planning on doing this year!!

Kyle is supposed to fly in tomorrow morning so I'm crossing my fingers that his flight from Seattle can get out okay. Seattle has not been having good weather and it's been awful for travelers trying to get in and out! One of the friends from North Dakota was supposed to fly home from Seattle a couple of days ago but her flight got canceled. They told her she wouldn't make it home until the 26th but she got a flight by rerouting through Las Vegas. Kyle's cousin Jace called and said she was in the airport with nowhere to go so I picked her up and she stayed the night with us. I took her to the airport at 4 this morning. It was fun to meet her even though it was a brief trip. I think she's one of the lucky ones to make it home before Christmas, even 2 days late.

It snowed all the way home from the airport around 5, just flurries and of course it didn't stick at all... I was surprised to see it though! I really enjoyed our snow last week but I'm very happy that it doesn't stick around for long!

Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Christmas week!!

Snow falls, trees fall

I woke up this morning to the snow quickly melting under blue skies and Dad bundled up in his scarf, hat, boots and beanie. At first I thought he was playing in the snow, taking in as much of it as he could before it melted but then I realized this is Dad... He was surveying the damage.

In our backyard we had two 40-foot trees in our yard that nicely blocked the view of the house behind us. Now we have one 40-foot tree and one 25-foot tree. Some huge top branches completely broke off and the tree looks like it's going to have to have a few more cut off the very top. One little tree that I thought was broken (it cracked as I was brushing snow off of it) was able to be propped up on its stick again.
Schools around the valley are canceled but all in all it looks like it's going to be a normal winter Vegas day- chilly but with blue skies and sunny- other than rapidly melting snow.
Snowfall on The Strip was 3 inches, breaking the previous 1967 record of 2. The overall record for Las Vegas snow was 7.8 which we did not break. The paper states that yesterday was the 8th largest snowfall on record for the area. Some places of Henderson got up to 8 inches (we got just about 4 and a half all in all).
If this only happens every 30 years or so I'm happy I was around to see it! It was a great send-off since this is my last winter in Vegas before I move in April!

Where are we?

Probably. It can't be Vegas. It certainly seems like the North Pole here today!
We have 4 or 5 inches of snow and it's still coming down pretty good. I've been using this nice flat table to measure the snowfall every hour or so. We've been averaging about an inch per hour. Raj was sleeping in his igloo when Mom and I got home from Costco to about 2 inches in our backyard. I woke Raj up and he came out of his igloo and looked around with what I can only describe as amazement on his face. He was a little nervous about the white stuff at first (he's only seen it once or twice in his 7 years) but with some encouragement from me he ventured out to play. He of course loved it. He flew around the yard like a reindeer. He liked tasting the snowflakes, too. He was also quite curious to see if there was any snow on the pool. Mom, Dad, Raj and I went for a walk before dark.
Dad and Raj: Mom: me: Our neighbors made some very creative snowmen. Not the salad tong arms. I liked this one's scarf. Okay this one wasn't made by the neighbor children but he's still cute. He looks like he's saying, "Bring on the snow!" I took a few pictures of the trees as well... These were just pretty. This poor palm tree looks like it's not holding up so well. Neither is our Oldeander tree in the yard. It used to be pretty tall.We took another walk this evening and enjoyed the neighbor's lights and decor. To read about the Vegas snowfall on Foxnews click here, or from the Las Vegas Review Journal here. See more fun winter pictures of my nephews building a snowman here.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!

WESTERN MOJAVE DESERT-EASTERN MOJAVE DESERT-MORONGO BASIN-
CADIZ BASIN-NORTHEAST CLARK COUNTY-LAS VEGAS VALLEY-
SOUTHERN CLARK COUNTY-
205 PM PST WED DEC 17 2008

...EXTREMELY RARE SNOW EVENT ACROSS THE DESERT SOUTHWEST...

AN UNUSUAL COMBINATION OF SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE AND COLD...
NORTHERLY...LOW LEVEL AIR HAS PRODUCED A RARE SNOWSTORM ACROSS THE
LOWER ELEVATIONS OF THE MOHAVE DESERT...INCLUDING THE LAS VEGAS
VALLEY. THIS SNOWSTORM WILL PRODUCE SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS TO THE LAS
VEGAS VALLEY AS 3 TO 6 INCHES OF SNOW ARE LIKELY AT MOST LOCATIONS
INCLUDING THE LAS VEGAS STRIP. HIGHER AMOUNTS ARE POSSIBLE...
PARTICULARLY ACROSS THE WESTERN PORTIONS OF THE VALLEY WHERE TOTAL
ACCUMULATIONS OF UP TO 10 INCHES ARE FORECAST.

THE SNOW BEGAN TO FALL ACROSS MUCH OF THE LAS VEGAS VALLEY EARLY
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE OVERNIGHT
HOURS. THIS WILL LIKELY BE THE BIGGEST SNOWSTORM TO IMPACT LAS VEGAS
SINCE 1979...WHEN 7.8 INCHES OF SNOW WAS MEASURED AT MCCARRAN
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.

SNOW REMOVAL EQUIPMENT IS EXTREMELY LIMITED IN THE LAS VEGAS VALLEY
AND THE EFFECTS FROM THIS STORM WILL LIKELY LINGER INTO THURSDAY.
TEMPERATURES QUICKLY REBOUND IN MANY INSTANCES FOLLOWING SNOW IN THE
LOWER DESERTS. THIS WILL NOT BE THE CASE ON THURSDAY...AS THE
TEMPERATURE WILL NOT CLIMB OUT OF THE 30S.

ELSEWHERE ACROSS THE LOWER DESERTS...ABOVE 2000 FEET...SNOWFALL OF 6
TO 18 INCHES IS EXPECTED. FOR ADDITIONAL DETAILS PLEASE SEE THE
LATEST WINTER STORM WARNING /RNOWSWVEF/.


Just talked to Dad as well, he said they shut down the airport indefinitely.
We don't have snow machines in town to shovel the runways with so they had to close
down the whole airport. Crazy, crazy!
Will post pictures in a bit.

Family Pictures

We had our family pictures done on Saturday. There are 14 of us now including two new ones since last year's picture (Jhett and Ellie).We even got all of the kids to pose for a picture; probably their first one all together since Ellie was born. They did really well with jellybeans and promises of ice cream as motivators. Then the kids in each family got their pictures together:
Sisters- Bryanna and Ellie Brothers- Carter and Camden and Jhett! This picture was picked up weird by my scanner... Sorry it's a bit cut off and sideways.

Love Story Official Music Video-Taylor Swift

Santa's elves are really getting good at this toy-making business...

Nieces and nephews are great for so many reasons.

For one thing they are just so darn cute. For another they aren't afraid to act goofy. Their imagination never ceases to surprise me. Today Bryanna told me to be a walrus and she would be a giraffe. This was the result: A few hours later Carter announced that he was "Tiger Carter".
There are trivial but fun reasons too, like how you feel less guilty about eating chicken nuggets more often.
Or how cool their toys are. Today I went into the living room and happened to see this toy sitting on one of the shelves (it's amazing how the house is filled with toys when your parents have five grandkids): Admittedly my brother Jeff has never quite grown out of his love for remote-controlled awesomeness so I'm not entirely sure if this is his toy or his sons' but it's definitely a cool toy. I flipped it upside down and underneath you can even switch the wheel alignment to the left or the right. I don't even know if I understand exactly what that would do but it sounds way more advanced than toys I had when I was little. I've especially noticed this recently, as I've been going through old pictures to make a wedding slideshow.
For example:
This is my 3rd birthday. Not only is that an obviously fake phone, it's not even cordless. This is Bryanna when she was 7 months old. Note the high-tech, REAL cell phone she's playing with. This was her daddy's but the kids have several real cell phones that we don't use anymore and they love to play with them. I think if we gave them a phone with a cord they'd say, "What IS that?"Here is Kevin opening his presents on his I think 11th birthday (I was 6). In the picture he's opening a new GameBoy. This wasn't one of the flat, colored ones either. It's clunky and gray. I found it in a closet the other day and it was even bigger than I remembered but Kevin and I were both so excited about it. We spent years playing with it. We thought it was amazing technology. I loved my toys growing up but some toys now are definitely impressive. I was with Bree in Costco the other day and saw this:

There was also a dinosaur, a cat and a pony. The pony can hold up to something like 200 pounds on its back and has sensors all over its body so it can "respond" to children with life-like movements. It eats carrots and has sensors so it can be "afraid" of the dark by whimpering.
Google "Top toys of 2008" and you get things like this:
According to JCPenny, "Mat-free gaming allows you to break outside the 4-step box with jumps, sweeps and crossovers. Motion-sensing technology lets you see your "virtual" dance feet on the TV screen as you dance."
Or these: Brookstone says they, "..use a real infrared imager, onboard camera and LCD monocle that lets you see in complete darkness. It has two modes. Close-Proximity Stealth lets you move right up next to your “target” without being detected. Maximum Surveillance lets you see up to 50 feet in complete darkness without being seen."
Frankly that sounds a bit creepy to me but you get the point. Nieces and nephews are definitely fun to hang out with.
With the holidays coming up it's been fun to see all of the toys out there. Leave me a message if you know of any other amazing technological toys!