Time for some photos

Indy was so happy and impressed with himself for making his own "Christmas Pizza." He even rolled the dough himself. (Even with a little help with each step, he got to experience each detail of making a pizza.)

Indy and Fisher got to hangout with their cousin Jack for a couple of days. Here they are eating appetizers while jabbering.

Ben after running 14 miles in 17 degree weather and 100 yard fog.

Jennilyn after pushing Ben for 14 miles in 17 degree weather and 100 yard fog.

Us in our ninja outfits before our long run.

The Christmas Crash

Indy was so excited to sit down with the adults and play a board game. He was doing fine until he wanted to play with the game pieces. When we denied him of that pleasure, he started to whine, cry, and throw a fit. So he laid himself on the chair that he was sitting on and protested. After a while he became silent...that's when we found out that he had zonked out where he laid.

climbing with kids: a day in the life of a new utahn

many of you have asked "how do you climb with kids?" Others of you have wondered how the climbing has been going since we moved to Utah. Here's an answer to both: a brief description of what a day of climbing is like down here.

It starts like this: I pack the night before. put everyone to bed early. make sure Halloween candies are handy and the laptop is charged.

wake-up. drop ben off at his work, and then pack up. when it's time to leave, receive notification that i won't be carpooling. wait for the stragglers, whom i find out are too lazy to pull of the freeway to have me follow them. so i meet them at the mouth of the canyon (after confusing texts and phone convos on directions).

get to the base of the climb. friend "A" knows me and likes me, and has offered to help with the kids. Other two climbers glare at me. They laugh when I ask them how to get my kids across the river.

Yes, river. because we don't climb at some kid-friendly crag, I'm beginning to wonder if they even exist down here. no, we climb at this leering limestone wall that has a river at the bottom. With one pair of gators.

Two sneering climbers leave. Fortunately friend A takes a kid for me so I only have to make 27 trips across the treacherous river in waders that go up to my crotch and have an ankle that is wider than my foot while carrying screaming child and gear.

the approach doesn't end there. because i mean, it was only a river crossing. too simple, right?

that's where the 200 yd mud slide begins. at about a 60 degree angle. so to start i crawl up it pushing Indy's butt up. slide down. play hot potato with friend A carrying Fisher up. Only dropped him once, and fortunately a tree branch grabbed his ankle. whew.

Hmm, so that's were the fun begins? Well, the warm-up is a .12a. It's the easiest climb there. so all the macho men onsight the thing... yikes! I take TR on it, fall at the crux, and finish wondering why I didn't lead it. oh yeah, that's because my kids are screaming at the base of the cliff (all 18inches of the ground) while said sneering climbers continue sneering.

Then we work on 5.13s. You know, since I send stuff like that all that time (right!) Fortunately kids are now busy eating chocolates, dirt, and whatever else they find while watching a movie. When they do cry (halfway up the 13a) sneering climberss kindly ask me to come down, so that they can have a turn (sheesh!) and the kids can stop crying.

So i come down (I'm whooped anyways) and pack up. Then begins the descent. I decide to make a head start before the kid-haters do their last climb. Going down the mud-slide carrying Fisher my little (new) cooler slides down the cliff. Slide is the wrong word. This thing bounces once, and then gets mega air and FLIES into the water. it catches a teeny branch in the water, we're talking twine-sized branch here, and waits.

so that's what would happen if I dropped Fisher.

then I fall. fortunately i land on my (very muddy) bottom and ungracefully slide to the bottom. whew, that's over. Friend A much more gracefully brings Indy down.

oh, and the cooler lost its branch. it's not a couple hundred yards down river. crap.

I slip the gators and start running through the deepest part of the river: we're talking mid-quads here. fisher tries to jump in after me. Friend A stops him, which means that he has to touch him, and if you know Fisher you know that that is an invasion of his personal space which results in high-pitched screaming.

oh well, i got the cooler. lunch and snacks are now total mush.

i take the kids across the river one at a time. then the gear.

Indy poops his pants. then pees on them. but, AHA I am a genius and packed extra pants. One sippy cup and one pack of wipes is lost to the river (a minor inconvenience with poopy diapers and poopy pants) but we are all safe.

Fisher keeps trying to jump in the river while we watch glaring climber try to redpoint 13b. So i strap him in his carseat, toss Indy in too, and shut the car. Then I lock it. Then I sit my muddy self down and talk with friend and watch the send, enjoying the quiet.

they want to hit up another wall. with only 2 hours of daylight left, i decline. said wall is supposed to have deeper river and a cattle-guard in front of it- tricky they say because you jump the fence and land in the river. doesn't sound fun in giant gators and screaming kids. i bail.

so that's how climbing with kids goes. does it suck? yeah, pretty much. but is it worth it? totally.

an apology to Halloween.

Dear Mr. Halloween,

It's not that I don't like you. Really. I've done lots of fun things with you this year. We went to the heritage park with my Mom. We even went on the night with free pizza and a trick-or-treating party. I forgot my kids costumes but we managed to scramble up a monster and a cowboy.

I also went to not one, but two ward parties. My children dressed up at both, and I even threw together a Luna Lovegood costume for one of them.

We also went to the this is the place park with cousins from Idaho. The kids got to trick-or-treat and wear costumes again. They even got to pet animals and ride horses in the Halloween spirit!

So please, Mr. Halloween, forgive me for ditching out on you this weekend to chase the warm sun in St. George. Forgive me for making my kids sit at the base of a climb all day instead of trick-or-treating. It's not that I love climbing more than you. Maybe I do. But I did try.

Love, Jennilyn

The Eaton Family Exodus

One July 4, Jennilyn found a pretty neat job opening on craigslist.com for a marketing communications manager for Ragnar Events. I applied and two days later was interviewed for the position. My quick time in Kaysville, UT for the interview consisted of three seperate interviews and then I was back in Rexburg. During the interviews I was informed of a race director position with the company, although I didn't show much interest. While following up with the man that would oversee the marking position, I was encouraged to apply for the race director position.

So on August 5, I applied for the position of race director and was called in for another interview. I left that interview with an assignment to read a case study and draft a proposal concerning the four questions at the end of the case study. After submitting the proposal, I was told that only the top applicants for the position got the case study (that always makes you feel good). They then called me in for another interview where I presented the proposal in front of four people. The commented on my document and asked questions.

The final step was to volunteer at the Ragnar Raley New England. On Sept. 9, they flew me out to Boston, MA where I worked and drove the back roads between New Haven, CT and Boston to set up portions of the course.

Two days after I got back from the trip (Sept 14) they offered me the job. I accepted and gave my two week notice at the City of Rexburg.

We are excited to go and sad to leave family and friends. This will be a good thing for us to meet new people and experience life in a new place. The job will keep me on my toes while loving it at the same time.

Kaysville or Bust!

Crack Addicts

Ben and I now share a crack addiction. While Ben is not quite as addicted as I am, he is also enjoying a "new" sport in rock climbing.

We recently went to city of rocks with a few friends. A good friend of mine put me on a harder crack climb than others I had previously tried, Heartbreaker 5.10d. I felt like this climb helped me get the hang of crack climbing, and got me addicted. Dean encouraged me to try leading it, so we have a few pictures of my first trad lead.

Ben is not quite so afraid of lead climbing, and didn't think twice about placing gear on Fred Rassmussen 5.8. He's been pushing himself in climbing, working hard pushing mentally, and finding out he's much stronger than he previously imagined. It's great to see him grow as a climber.

We had a great time with friends and I even had a few days to climb without kids! Enjoy these pictures, taken by an "aspiring" photographer, Dean Lords.

Fourth of July SWEETNESS

July 4th parades are always fun and games until you let your little ones fall asleep in the car with salt water taffy in their mouth.

The taffy was melting out of his mouth. It wasn't falling out, this was a steady stream of oozing chocolate taffy. It kept getting bigger and bigger as Jennilyn and I gawked at it.

Chocolate milkshake anyone?