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?

We Like Rigby Lake

We tend to be regulars at Rigby Lake, it's one of the only kid-friendly places to swim around. Jennilyn grew up on the beach and I have always liked swimming, so we have that itch to get wet and splash. Rigby Lake is a lot nicer than when I was growing up. They have extended the grass, cleaned up a lot of the dead trees, and put in new sand. They now charge to go there, but that even limits who goes there. The crowds are limited and there are less scary people.

Ben trying to walk in shallow water with fins on.

Jennilyn getting ready to snorkle.

Indy trying to get as close to tossing his dirt on Fisher.

Indy at Rigby Lake.

Fisher in the sand at Rigby Lake.

Jennilyn Published

I am so proud of my wife. Jennilyn was recently published in an online magazine called "The Outdoor Parent." She is such a great writer, even after the editor hacks at the column.

Read the article at:
The Outdoor Parent

Good job Doll Face.

Teton Dam Half Marathon - 2009

After the Salt Lake City Marathon, Jennilyn wounldn't quit talking about running another race. "I'm going to run in the Teton Dam Half Marathon," she said. So he running didn't stop. Actually she was able to recruit Michelle, our sister in-law, to train with her.

She did very well on race day. Her race time of 1:48:24 landed her second place in her age division. She had a lot of fun and we are very proud of her.

Guess what . . . she is still talking about running. I think she gave me here list of races for the rest of the year and I counted 3 or 4.

I guess you can call running her healthy addiction.

"Fooling Around" with my wife

Jennilyn and I had some more fun in southern Utah on May 3-5. We went down to the Hanksville, UT area and met up with the Spring Summit group from BYU-Idaho. My brother Joe is a part of that group, so it was cool to camp with him for two nights and do some canyoneering.

We spent Sunday driving down to Hanksville and Tuesday driving back to Rexburg. This allowed for one full day to tackle two slot canyons. We hiked, squirmed, and shuffled our bodies through Monkey Business Canyon and Fooling Around Canyon. Both were considered slot canyons. This means that the canyon, as it continually drops in elevation, gets very narrow in parts. We had to use our whole bodies to squeeze both sides of the canyon walls to lower ourselves down the canyon. There are sections of rappelling where we used humans to anchor the rope.

Fooling Around Canyon had a lot of still water in it. There was a section where we couldn't touch and were literally swimming through a 3 foot wide canyon. There was also another section where we were twenty feet above the canyon floor, scooting ourselves through the canyon by pressing up on both sides of the canyon walls. This made it so that we didn't drop ten feet in to a narrow 6 inch corridor where we could have gotten stuck.

Jennilyn and I above the last rappel in Monkey Business Canyon in southern Utah.

Jennilyn as one of the human anchors.

Jennilyn up the canyon a little ways; notice how narrow the walls are.

Tight squeeze through this section of canyon. We had to wedge ourselves in this slot and hand our backpacks down to each other to drop deeper into the canyon.