We Have Kittens...

A week before the kittens were born...this cat got fat!

Mommy with her baby!

Here are some pictures of the 5 new additions to our family. They arrived on Feb. 24th, 2009. They are adorable and small! The girls have really enjoyed having them around the house and checking in on Mother and Babies. Hopefully in 6 weeks we will be able to find good homes for these precious little things. Until then they will be loved and played with.

Some Pretty Funny Comics...

Picture Tag...

I wasn't so much tagged by any one person, however Amy on her blog wrote if there were any of us out there lacking in the picture tag department to feel free and post...well I have never done it so I thought here goes. It was great going through old pictures again...it has been awhile since I have seen these.


Rules:
1. Go to the Document/My Pictures site on your computer.
2. Go to your sixth file.
3. Go to your sixth picture.
4. Blog about it.
5. Tag six people.

This picture was taken the spring of '07. As a family decided to take the girls up to Bridal Veil Falls. This is of Ember and Kenzie at the old mine shaft on the way to the Falls.

I now tag...Jami, Lana, Katie, Janell, Natalie Delory, and Jen Stemmons.

4 Years Into Eternity...

Four years ago today we were blessed to go as a family and be sealed in the Manti Temple for all time and Eternity.

Happy Anniversary!!!

Short Hair or Long Hair...

Me with short hair...present.

Me with long hair...engagement pictures 6 years ago.

I just wanted to see your opinion. I have put on my blog a poll and asked for your feed back. Do you like me with short hair or long hair? Please vote and let me know. THANK YOU!

Mount Redoubt...

Sorry this is a really long post.

Mount Redoubt 1989-1990 (It started erupting December 16th and lasted on and off for months).

Mount Spurr 1992 (Erupted during that summer and the ash was blown into Anchorage).

Mount Spurr 1992

Ash from Crater Peak mantles a car hood in Anchorage. By the time the August 18 eruption cloud passed over Anchorage, 125 km (78 mi) distant, the fallout consisted of coarse to fine sand-sized particles which accumulated to a thickness of 3 mm (1/8 in) in parts of the city. Residents were able to observe the oncoming eruption cloud which appeared as a dark storm cloud moving steadily overhead.

Ash on the ground in Anchorage became resuspended in the air with the slightest breeze; vehicular traffic also contributed to unhealthy particulate levels in the air over the city. Many residents resorted to particle masks and had to take precautions to protect sensitive electronic equipment, car engines, etc. People with respiratory sensitivities were warned to stay indoors and keep physical activity to a minimum

The Anchorage International Airport was closed to air traffic for 20 hours due to the ash blanketing runways. Clean-up took several days and was best accomplished by wetting down the ash followed by grading and sweeping trucks. Around the city, residents hosed down homes, driveways, and cars.

I thought this was one of the coolest pictures. This is taken via satellite a couple of days after Mount Spurr erupted. You can see the ring of ash floating in the atmosphere.

This is a map of all the active volcanoes in Alaska! Crazy to think that the whole Aleutian chain is active!

This past week has really made me think of my childhood. How lucky I was to whiteness first hand the magnificence and devastation that the Lord truly has control over. I remember a little bit the last time Mount Redoubt erupted, it was right before Christmas of '89. I remember warnings and what would happen if it erupted. Lucky for us when Mount Redoubt did erupt the ash didn't land in Anchorage.

The next set of eruptions I will never forget and this is truly the reason for this blog entry. It was the summer of '92. I was at Young Woman's at our church building. We were just finishing up our activity and heading outside. (Remember August in Anchorage is rainy). So us girls are heading out and the sky was dark so dark it was almost black and during this time of the summer we have almost 24 hours of light, it never really gets dark. So this was different. There were dark clouds all around. Us being Young girls thought it was a great big rain storm and gladly welcomed it, until we noticed what was falling from the sky was not wet and it stunk. Once the leaders came out and realized what had happened they brought us back inside to figure out the best means of getting all of us girls safely home. I remember the next week or so while everything was being cleaned up going out and playing (yes we were stupid), collecting and just really finding interest in what just happened. We were very lucky! I miss the memories and having things trigger these are just great! I worry about family and friends that are still living in the area. However I know that precautions and minds are a lot more mature then they were 18 years ago.

Keeping in line with my last post I thought I would go into the next situation that Alaska is facing right now. For the past week they have been in an Orange code for Mount Redoubt, this means that you are to be prepared when this changes to a Red status. Red means that Mount Redoubt is erupting. Here is a little history on both Mount Redoubt and Mount Spurr. I have always been amazed by the mountain chains surrounding Anchorage. So here is a little piece of my history for you. I hope you enjoy!


This is about Mount Spurr...
After 39 years of quiescence, Crater Peak reawakened with a series of three, short-lived but violent eruptions on June 27, August 18, and September 16-17 of 1992 (Alaska Volcano Observatory, 1993). Each eruption lasted between 3.5 - 4.0 hours and produced a cloud of gas and ash that reached altitudes of more than 15 km (49,000 ft) above the volcano. Near the volcano, avalanches of debris tumbled down the flanks of Crater Peak and large blocks were hurled as far as 3 km (1.8 miles) away. Two of the three 1992 events blanketed populated areas northeast and east of the volcano, including the city of Anchorage, with as much as 3 mm ( 1/8 inch) of sand-sized ash. The fallout closed airports, schools, and businesses for a day or more, interrupted air traffic over South central Alaska, and caused respiratory problems for people with breathing disorders. The clean-up cost the city of Anchorage alone an estimated $2 million. Resuspended ash was an intermittent problem more than a year later.

Mount Redoubt...
(This section is from an article I found interesting on this website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Redoubt_(Alaska))
Mount Redoubt, or Redoubt Volcano, is an active stratovolcano in the largely volcanic Aleutian Range of Alaska. The mountain is also the highest within the range. It is located in the Chigmit Mountains (a subrange of the Aleutians), west of Cook Inlet, about 180 km (110 miles) southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. The Alaska Volcano Observatory currently rates Redoubt as Aviation Alert Level Orange and Volcano Alert Level Watch. On January 25, 2009, the Alaska Volcano Observatory warned that Redoubt may erupt within "hours or days." On January 28, 2009, the AVO released an information statement stating that an eruption similar to its 1989/1990 event is the most likely scenario.

Mount Redoubt erupted in 1902, 1966 and 1989. The eruption in 1989 spewed volcanic ash to a height of 14,000 m (45,000 ft) and managed to catch KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight 867, a Boeing 747 aircraft, in its plume (the flight landed safely at Anchorage). The ash covered an area of about 20,000 km² (7,700 sq. miles). The 1989 eruption is also notable for being the first ever volcanic eruption to be successfully predicted by the method of long-period seismic events developed by Swiss/American volcanologist Bernard Chouet.^[5]

Mount Redoubt is a massive mountain: it rises 9,000 feet (2,700 m) above the surrounding valleys to the north, south, and southeast in little over 5 miles (8 km).

This is some ash that I collected around my house in Anchorage shortly after Mount Spurr erupted!

I Loved This Post On a Friends Blog...

Don't worry he is just fine. This is what they do!

This is what my friend woke up to in Wasilla, Alaska. -25 below.
(Yes, this is her car!)



So I am kind of taking a little snippet (just the pictures, these are my words) from my friends blog that lives up in Alaska. But I thought it was the greatest thing. Here is global warming at it's finest!

My friend is currently living in Wasilla and was sweet enough to take a picture for all of us that are living in the states worrying about the polar bears (well me being from Alaska have never had that thought). However for the rest of you...this is the frost that I was talking about when I took the pictures and posted a couple of weeks ago. Here is the beauty yet devastating frost Alaska is known for in the winter. They are not going through 'global warming'. I hope this picture clears some things up.