Merry Christmas! We have an official blizzard warning in effect until Saturday morning. Cool, huh? Much different from Christmas in Vegas. (I think it was mostly cool because we didn’t have to go anywhere – if we’d needed to go anywhere, it would have been a total mess.)

Today was my first Christmas home since 2005. What a fantastic time! I had forgotten how much fun it is to have brothers and sisters wake you up at 6am because they are so excited Christmas is finally here. (Since I’m a morning person, the whole 6am thing is not quite such a big deal. Except when I stay up until 2am the night before. Which I did. But that is beside the point.)

I love that we all get together and laugh. We love each other. And our whole house is filled with the laughter and love the whole time. No material possession in the entire world can substitute for that kind of love. Christmas is a time when it becomes a little easier to remember to show that love. Just think about it – it’s the time when we celebrate the birth of the Savior of the World. I’m amazed when I think about His sacrifice for all of us. Over the past year, I feel like I’ve become a lot closer to Him. It’s a relationship I plan on continuing for the rest of my life.

TRUE LOVE.  YOU THINK THIS HAPPENS EVERY DAY?

My parents are still crazy in love and I think it’s the best thing ever. 27 years of marriage and 8 kids haven’t changed that – if you asked, I think they’d tell you it’s even better than they imagined. (Well, at least some days they’d tell you that.) Whether the quote’s from Princess Bride or not – my parents have that love story beat.

Oh – and I couldn’t help putting up this next pic. My mom sometimes sings an old song called “Hopelessly Devoted To You.” (My dad does not sing. Except in Church.) This picture makes me think of that song.

One of the greatest things my parents ever did for us was to stay in love with each other. We always knew that my mom came before any of the rest of us (in my dad’s eyes) and that the same was true about my dad in my mom’s eyes. Whoever thought second place could be so good?

I was sitting here tonight thinking about my blog post, and thought I’d make a list of the top ten the things I miss about living in the city.  Turns out, I couldn’t come up with ten.  Sure, I miss the convenience of having some things right there – Whole Foods, Bikram Yoga, Cool Art Galleries, Great Restaurants and Good Shopping – but for most of those things, 40-60 minutes really isn’t a bad drive.  (It’s not like I’m facing lots of traffic on that drive.) I’m debating whether it’s worth the trade-off.  You see, I have “space” issues. Eventually I want my own space.  Like acres of space.  Enough for at least two pigs (see About Me).  And two big dogs.  And room to grow my OWN organic wonderful fresh local produce.  And maybe even raise my own steaks.  (aka, I could create my own Whole Foods.  And it wouldn’t even be nicknamed Whole Paycheck.)

It’s a toss up.  If I found a way to put a Bikram Yoga studio somewhere on my space, I think I’d have a clear winner.  For now though, I’ll just drive.

Now this is not just any dairy.  It’s the Shatto Milk Company and they keep some very happy employees – of both the two-legged and four-legged variety.  I LOVE Shatto!  Which is kind of funny considering I don’t drink milk often – and most of the time when I do, I drink soy milk.  Their branding is just so fun!  I love their moosletter and their milk soap is fantastic.  And for the times when I do drink regular milk, theirs is the only one I’ll drink.

I went on a tour of the dairy during their annual Family Farm Day. I was surprised how spotless it was – it is a DAIRY after all. Even more surprising – that’s the way it is ALL. THE. TIME. My sister Jessie works as a bottle washer at Shatto, so I stop by on a regular basis. And every single time I do, it’s still spotless. Love it!