Winter Wonderland for Sale

We have been visiting my parents in Salt Lake since Friday. Today is Chris's Air Force physical (keep your fingers crossed that he passed...he isn't back yet), and we have been planning to leave sometime after he gets home. The plan is to hang out at home tonight, do some laundry, then pack again tomorrow and head off to Aberdeen for Christmas. Unfortunately, I just heard that Sardine Canyon, the most direct path between the freeway and Logan once you get to Brigham City, has been closed due to snow. Now, unlike other states that aren't used to heavy snowfall (sound familiar, Jess?), Utah can usually take care of a lot of snow quickly. I'm just hoping they can do it quickly enough that the weather doesn't interfere with our plans.

My sister Amy is moving out of my parents' house and into her own apartment. In the short time that she has been staying here, a lot of her stuff has been stored on a patio off the side of the house. When she went to start move, she found some pretty cool icicles:



Here's another shot from the side. The icicles were all the way down to the ground and creating a large ice puddle:



I don't know about any of you, but I thought that looked pretty cool. Michael and Amy took a cane to them after they took pictures. Goodbye, icicles.

Chris just called. His physical went well. While the final word is not yet in, there is no reason to think he didn't pass.

And by the way, Chris earned a 4.0 for fall semester. Hooray, Chris! We are going to go to his favorite Chinese place in Idaho to celebrate. That is quite the occasion because I don't like Chinese food, but I'm willing to eat it for him. Love you, Chris!

I've had a request for pictures of Jane in her new Christmas dress. After I took the pictures, I realized that she didn't have her cute new church shoes on, but she was quite done with getting her picture taken. Maybe another day.



And for a moment of parental excitement: Jane is starting to talk. She can very clearly say "uh-oh". Less clearly, but still understandably if you're listening, she can say "ank oo" and "daddy". They could easily be just more sounds that she makes while experimenting with her mouth, but she says them at all the appropriate times. If she drops something, "uh-oh", if you give her something, "ank oo", and if she wants or sees Chris, "daddy".

Oddly enough, that brings a question to my mind that I would like to put to all of you. I am uncertain on how to punctuate quotation marks around single words, like "uh-oh"... should the period/comma come inside or outside the quotation marks? I know if it's an entire sentence, the punctuation goes inside. I've heard that for single words, it goes outside, but that always looks wrong to me. Anyone know for sure? Pass this along to Jerilynn if you know her. Maybe she can answer that question.