My costume for Halloween

Congratulations Brynn and Chad!

I am slow on this but I wanted to send Justin and my congratulations out to Chad and Brynn who had beautiful baby Trevor last weekend. We got to meet him at the hospital and I can already tell he is going to be a wonderful baby. We are so happy for the growing Eastman family!

Lambert Wine Crush

A fellow graduate student and lab mate of mine, Ann Lambert, has a tradition with her family where once a year they harvest all the grapes from her mother's backyard and crush them as the first steps toward their wine making. They invite friends and family to come and it is quite fun. Here are a few pictures of the party. Thanks Lambert Family for letting us be part of such a fun process, you all are great hosts!

Princess Archie

 

Marissa, a favorite niece of mine, loves Archie. She loves Archie so much that when Jessica got a gift card to Petsmart she thought it only appropriate that Archie get a costume. There has been no shortage of laughter at our poor dog's expense in our house tonight.

 

Wilderness Quilt

Okay some time ago I told those of you interested in participating in the Women Protecting Wilderness art show that I would update you when I knew more. Well, I know more now so here goes;

We are creating a wilderness quilt of profiles of all different women (and any men who want to participate) who love the wilderness and want to see it protected. What you need to do is
1. write a short statement of 50 words or less about what wilderness means to you or why it is important
2. choose a personal picture of you, your family, your friends or just a landscape that you like (mine is the biker chick picture above)
3. give a one or two word description of what you do (e.g., mother, wife, student, wanderer, teacher, etc.)
4. put all of these elements in an e-mail and send it either to me or to Deeda@SUWA.org

We will format them and let you approve the final look of it. The art show is going to be at the end of October I will let you know more when it comes so you can attend if you would like. This may also travel around the state to every county but we will see.

If you would like to find out more about this project go to www.SUWA.org/WPW and if you want to get involved with the organization (or think you might) we are having a meeting this Thursday that I can give you more details about if you are interested.

E-mail me or post a comment if you have any questions, the sooner you get these in the better. Thank to all of those who showed an interest in this project, it means a lot!

Fav New Podcast

For those who enjoy podcasting out there you might want to check out Grammar Girl some time. It might be because I have to do so much writing that I find her podcast so helpful but I feel like anyone would and could enjoy it! The episodes are all around five minutes and they are very informative!

Ritualistic Biting

This blog is for my brother to prove to him the ritualistic way in which I was bitten by ants. I was on a river trip (pictures to come) last week. One of the nights I must have set our tent up on top of a satan-worshipping, human-hating ant pile. When I woke up in the morning I literally had atleast 100 miniture "satan-ant" bites. Two series of these bites werer in a near straight line, one vertical and on horizontal. I know we cannot know the mind of an ant but I think it is not too difficult to deduce I was part of a ritual that night. Wouldn't you agree?

Sorry for the fuzzy picture, I am not in the habit of taking pictures of the back of my leg.

Date Night

Justin and I had a super steamy date last night. He picked me up from school and we went and got sushi and then we went back up to school and I put electrodes on him. I am happy to report he has very strong (often stubborn) brainwaves.

I am piloting out my Masters project which involves analysis of EEG's when a person is doing a specific kind of difficult task. Because I have will be training research assitants next week I wanted to make sure the program and the equipment were working well. Justin was kind enough to let me put them on him.

Happy Birthday Brother!

We would like to wish my brother Jake a Happy 31st Birthday. My brother is easily one of my very best friends and has been for many years. As the story goes, when we moved to Utah in 1991, we didn't know anyone so we started talking at night and started to become friends. This tradition carried on through his high school years to when he was home on weekends from college (before and after his mission) up until he got married to Dearie. As a married man Justin and I have spent many hours hanging out with He and Dearie playing games and just talking. Even now, where he is sadly across the country, we rarely go a week without talking at least once. We have a similar sense of humor and spend most of our conversations trying to crack one another up. Often I call him about one thing and that turns into another and another to where we end up on the phone way too long. He is such good person; he is a great husband (so I've heard), a fantastic father to Izzy (as I have seen) and the soon to be twins (Logan and Lincoln?!) and a irreplaceable friend. Jacob, I hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Triathlon: And why I DID IT!!!

Two posts ago I gave you the sob story of why I was not going to do the Spudman. Monica, who was to do it with me, read this post and promptly called me. She helped me recognize that I could do it and that she would make sure I did. So with her support, I did the Spudman weekend before last! Here are a few of the picture that Neil took of Monica and I throughout the event:Monica and I dancing in our super-sexy wetsuits right before the race.

Monica has wetsuit dancing skills I can't even comprehend!


I am the penguin in front. If you will first direct your attention to my enormous smile. This is me realizing that I survived the swim! Second, direct your attention to the fact that I am not the last person in on the swim. I was close but not the last, what an accomplishment!








On the left is me coming in from the bike ride to transition into the run and on the right I am in the home stretch!









A (sweaty) picture of Monica and I just after the race. Thanks Monica for a great time! Who's up for next year?

Yesterday I helped in throwing a baby shower for Brynn who is expecting a baby boy in the early fall. Here I am holding Kristy's brand new baby girl, Hailey and beside me is Ashley, Brynn, Kristy, Heidi and Heather. I had a great time seeing the GHS girls and I cannot wait to meet your baby boy Brynnie!

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th Everybody! This is such a fun time of year with fireworks, friends and family. We were able to spend the 4th with the Miller Family and had a great time. The tradition in their family is to have a big breakfast in the morning, then we watch the children's neighborhood parade, followed by the Kaysville City parade. We then head out for a rocket contest and finish things up with a family bar-b-q. This year was particularly fun because Jon and Alicia got married on the fifth so the day was filled with wedding excitement as well!
Hope you enjoy the pictures. As you can see we have quite a crush on our nieces. They are so fantastic, it is hard not to! I cannot wait for Izzy to come home so I can fill my blog with her cute face as well.

Nine Mile and Range Creek

I had the great opportunity to go with Jen and Donna (Jen's Mom) on a guided tour of Range Creek and Nine Mile Canyon. Range Creek is an archaeologically rich area outside of Price, UT. It had been owned by the Wilcox family and a couple other people from homesteading days. Waldo Wilcox was aware of many of the Anasazi sites, including granaries, pit houses and rock art panels but did not make this knowledge known until 2001. It is unique because these sites are so new in the process of being explored. They are not as in your face amazing as Grand Gulch but incredible in the density of civilization and their paranoia.
Nine Mile is the most densely covered rock art area in Northern America. It is astounding to see so much communication from a different time. No one knows what these various panels mean (and anyone who claims they do are lying) but you cannot help but make up hypotheses while there. The man who led us through has been studying this area for decades and says he has yet to find all the reported rock art.
Below I have posted a sampling of the pictographs and petrogylphs we saw plus a sampling of pictures from Range Creek.

We went to the Hogle Zoo today with Jessica, Andrew and our two beautiful nieces Marissa and Addison. It was a lot of fun, we are glad they came down from Logan to hang out!

Women Protecting Wilderness

I am passionate about the wild lands of Utah; they are my solace and my spiritual refuge. When I discovered them is when I began to discover myself. Because they have done so much for me I take their protection very seriously. That is why I have been searching for a way to help preserve and protect these places that cannot protect themselves but nothing seemed like a good fit until I went to a meeting of Women Protecting Wilderness at the end of May. Here is a group that is just getting started and so the contributions I make to it matter. I am at the ground level so I am getting to help with the overarching vision of the organization. We want to be a group that all women (and men are invited too) who love to be in the wild can feel comfortable joining. It is only when we get women from all ways and walks of life that we can really start to make long-term differences in the way these lands are cared for.
The first event we are planning will be a press conference that will be turning into a traveling art show that you can be a part of! We are getting favorite pictures of women out in the wild, of their children in the wild and/or just their pictures of the wild along with a short (approx 50 words or less) essay/poem/statement of why they love the wild. We will collect all of these for the next couple of months then in September we will display them all together in an art show. It should be a really powerful demonstration of how different women flock to different wilderness areas for different reasons. If you are interested in being part of this show (and I really think you should be) please let me know. Please let your friends and family know as well; everyone is welcome to contribute. I will be sending out an e-mail of a few examples and some more specifics in a couple weeks but I wanted to give you a heads up!
Here is our Women Protecting Wilderness temporary website. It is under the SUWA (Southern Utah Wilderness Society) website right now but we will soon be breaking off and creating our own independent voice and website. This is a moderate voice of wilderness protection, I hope you will looking into it, create a piece for our art show and even consider joining us. There is much more to come!

My Girlfriend's Movie

As many of you know, I have a "girl-crush" on Angelina Jolie and I have for many years. It is for that reason that today is a very exciting day for me; her new movie 'Wanted' comes out and I am going to see it! For most movies if Jeff Vice of the D-News does not give it 3 stars or higher, Justin and I will not even go see it but for Angie (she told me I could call her that) I don't even care. We are going to the last matinee today and I can't wait to see her! What should I wear?!!

Our Weekend

I know it is nearly Wednesday but Justin and I have just gotten ourselves pulled together enough to tell you about our fun weekend. We went up to Ogden on Friday night via Frontrunner where we were picked up by my Dad, Cindy and Ben. We went to pizza and a movie (The Happening, DO NOT waste your money, it was AWFUL!!!) and then headed back home.
The next morning we ran the race, that I beat Justin in, as blogged below then went over to the first week of the farmer's market downtown at Homeless Square. It is so fun to go there and buy yummy food and watch interesting people. Later that night we went with Jen and Oscar and their friends from out of town to dinner and a baseball game. We were so excited to find out that Margaret, Cat and Eric had come to the game as well. There were some seats beside us so we all got to sit together too. The best part of the night is between two things; either getting to see Jen's toenail nearly falling off, as a residual from our backpacking trip or getting to see fireworks after the game.
On Sunday we started the day on a really nice bike ride from (roughly) the airport out the Salt Lake Marina. It is a really flat 20+ mile ride that is great for all levels. With the sun out and the blue skies I could fake I was at the beach. After that we went up to visit Justin's Dad, Jim and my Dad, John for Father's Day. We had such a wonderful weekend fill with friends, family and fun (anyone impressed by the alliteration?)!

Fun 5K

First off, yes I am wearing shorts in this picture. We ran a fun little 5K up in Millcreek for Jani Iwomoto's campaign this morning and also to benefit Fill the Ark charity. Oh, and for those keeping track, I won :)! Justin didn't know we were in a competition until I informed him he came in second (this information may or may not have also come with a little dance...).

Wedding time

Our friends, Helen and Jared were married on Saturday. We've known Helen since 2001 where we met on a campaign that we were all working on. Eve and I wish them all the best.

Home Cold Home

During the summer, because I am not taking any classes (and teaching an online class) I am able to spend a day or two a week at home just writing. Today I am home which should be nice and relaxing but it is not because it is freezing in my home. It is June 6th and all I want to do is turn on the heater!!! I had soup for lunch and just decided to make a turkey for dinner so the oven will heat up the home! It might as well be November! I am starting a petition, we are going to demand summer!

Continuation of Backpacking...

Justin and I near Bannister Ruin

Here was our first camping spot just below Junction Ruin. I was in heaven! I opened the tent in the morning and the first thing I saw was the ruin on the cliff in front of me (to the right and up from this pic)

There were lots of really well-preserved handprints at Junction Ruin, this is one of them. Handprints are my favorite form of art from these ancient people. There is something so real, so human about seeing another humans hand, not so different from yours or mine, on the wall. It reminds me that these are not just ruins, they were homes and communities.

On the left is a granary at Turkey Pin ruin, which you often see, but what you don't often see is the granary door, picutred here, that were specially cut to seal up grain to keep it fresh. This was Anasazi Gladware! On the right is Justin checking out the insides of the ruin.

Two-story Ruin

Camp in Sheik's Canyon on second night.

A small portion of a large rock art pannel near camp in Sheik's. On the right are the cool dudes a little closer up.

Jailhouse Ruin

Check out the two white circles above the ruin--in real life those are creepy face-like pictographs that seem to look at you as you enter Bullet Canyon to see this ruin.

Why Jailhouse Ruin is called Jailhouse Ruin

This is mitten (said midden) which is essentially an Anasazi trash dump that was found below each of the ruins. Basically they would throw broken pots and food (like corn cobs and lentils) out to the city dump which was usually 100 yards or less from their house. Coolest trash I've ever seen!

Me geeking out going into a perfectly preserved kiva, aptly named, perfect kiva. They just aren't making 800 year old kivas anymore, it was one of the cooler things I have ever seen.

Justin chillin' in the kiva

Art and life imitating art.

It's springtime in the desert! It was so fantastic to see the softer side of these prickly cacti.

Jen getting doctored in the morning due to her many, many, many blisters (she seriously never complained).

From day one we were filtering our water. These rain pools were heaven sent in the ease we could filter them; best water on the trip!

The crew on the last day. It was a great time gettinng into the wilderness and playing. Stay tuned for our backpacking trip to the Narrows in July and the Uintas in August.