Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!! You are such a wonderful contribution to the families all over the world, most especially to mine. XOXO :) I would like to publicly thank the father figures in my life for what they have taught me, shared with me, and given me during the course of my life. Top 5 Things I Appreciate About My Dad: (John) 1. His willingness to drop whatever he's doing in order to help someone in need. 2. His sense of humor, albeit quirky or corny on many occasions. You know - the "Dad Jokes", ha ha. 3. His amazing balance of having a hard work ethic and an appreciation for rest and relaxation. 4. His humility in learning new things. He might not know one thing about what he's being asked to do, but he's willing to try. 5. His capacity to love and be a good listener. He is always a good ear on the other end of the phone. Top 5 Things I Appreciate About My Father-in-Law: (Phil) 1. His love of studying intellectual things, especially s...

The highlight of my entire week was spending an afternoon with my little granddaughter, Avery. She is almost 7 months old now and has the cutest blue eyes and strawberry-blonde hair! I was able to hang out with her while her parents had an important appointment and we had the best time while they were gone.   I may have gone a little overboard with her parent's humble request for a couple of baby toys that would be a little more challenging to Avery than her assortment of rattles and simple toys. (I had told them about the Bimbo Toy Store here in Vicenza) But what good is it being a grandparent IN ITALY if you don't get a bunch of fun things to bring on your next visit?!! (*I did NOT buy everything that you see in the photos below) The many cute faces of Avery: As I drove up to Aviano, I was enjoying the CRISP blue skies that were everywhere. We've had several days recently that were more of a light blue with some haze over the mountains, but I think the rain had cleared ou...

We had the privilege of attending a Rome Temple session on Saturday and not only was it a gorgeous drive down and back, but the temple was a unique and wonderful experience in and of itself. A close-up of one of the many vibrant flower beds nestled around the temple grounds.  Friday began with Scott having to play dress up for work. He only had a half day, so that was nice. While he was schmoozing with all of his comrades in their fancy digs, I went to the Rosetto grocery store a few minutes away so that I could load up on some food storage items. Rosetto is a ginormous store and I knew I would be able to find a good selection there. While this wouldn't be a good item for my pantry , I was impressed with these giant vats of pesto. I'll be back another day, however, to bring one of them home . . . And I found some fun and colorful varieties of pasta that I added to my cart. My focus was on building up our cupboards so they had more than 5 total items on any given day. I chose to...