Last Weekend in Utah

T-minus 7 days!

This weekend we took advantage of the Utah snow and enjoyed the truly amazing scenery around our home.

As you can see, we've gotten a lot of snow over the past week. It's a beautiful thing... unless you're in your first week of commuting 40 miles to work.

Anyway, we decided to take the opportunity to enjoy our last weekend in Utah at the Sundance Nordic Center, one of my favorite places on earth. Actually, we went twice on Saturday - once in the afternoon with the boys and then we went snowshoeing in the evening (they're open late on full moon nights!). It was simply delightful!

Here are a few choice shots from the day and night:
One happy, snowy family

This kiddo couldn't take a serious photo to save his life!

No, I don't trust him with that snowball, either

Mush, Mommy!

Steve and Jamie make some full-moon-snowshoe angels

Commuting on the Bus - Day 1

Hmmm... it's a nice idea, but I will confess that I am not yet quite sold on commuting on the bus. Today was my first day and I will say that it was a wholly pleasant experience - the drivers were nice and I made all of the connections I was planning to make. I didn't get too carsick (bussick?) and I made it in to the office by 9. The downside? I spent 3 1/2 hours on the bus.

Now, I did find a better route home that if I can leave the office by 4:30 will get me home by 6, so I'm going to try that one out tomorrow as long as I can make it out by 4:30 (didn't happen today - I took the faster route, but didn't catch the bus until 5:10, so I wasn't home until 7). And I found a way to work that will only take two buses instead of two buses and Trax, so I'm going to try that one tomorrow morning. I had no idea how much of a science finding a bus route was!

I'm definitely willing to try this a few more times... hopefully I can find a way to keep the commute under 3 hours. Otherwise, I'll just be a planet killing commuter! I'll keep you posted.

Plane Tickets Purchased!

Hooray, we finally have plane tickets to Kazakhstan!!! We leave next Sunday, 1/18, and if all goes as planned (heh heh heh, that's a funny little adoption joke there... like anything ever goes as planned) we will meet our daughter on the 20th or 21st!

This is a big day for the Morningstars, and we are so excited to have seats purchased for our 24 hours of travel (20 hours in planes, 4 hours of layovers) for the most exciting trip ever!