A private pond located in Mapleton, Utah.  As seen during sub-freezing temperatures late December 2012.

This year I had a unique opportunity to visit home, home for me is Utah.  Specifically home is Salem, though my in-laws are located in Mapleton where I took these photographs.  I hadn't been home just a few weeks shy of two years, though it felt like I hadn't been home for over three, since before joining the military and leaving post-bootcamp to San Diego.  At the time it was just my wife and I, this year we had an addition to the family, a happy bundle of joy who's now learned to crawl and at the tender age of six months is already terrorizing the lower-regions of the household like any good little girl would.

For those who haven't seen snow close up, it can be as intriguing to look in to as fire, though a fire tends to be warmer than snow (not that it's much of a surprise).

Being home is surreal to me, the previous two Christmas's I'd had the opportunity to walk outside wearing shorts and a t-shirt, even flip-flops if I so desired.  This year we were greeted with snow nearly every day and sub-freezing temperatures the remainder of the time.  Still, temperature aside it was the joy of being with family that made it all more than worth it.  It's a funny thing that to be around people you know and love can make what may otherwise be a less-enjoyable attribute of a circumstance much more enjoyable.  For example, the cold can be overwhelming, but when spent with family or friends sipping hot cocoa and reminiscing on stories of years past it can be quite nostalgic.  This past trip was the latter, though now that I think about it I'm confident we didn't sip any hot cocoa and I've sipped more in the summer in San Diego than I can remember sipping any other time of the year since moving here but I digress.

Another view of a private pond located in Mapleton, Utah.  As seen during sub-freezing temperatures late December 2012, this is taken while physically on the frozen pond, though just barely out from the shore.

Home is where the heart is, it's where your family is, it's where the people you're closest to reside and it's everything others say it's not cracked up to be.  Wherever you call home, whatever weather may be like there, and whatever 2013 has in store for you, may you find happiness in your lot and with your family.