Doug & Pat

We are vacationing here in Laramie, Wyoming, visiting our daughter Mandy and family.  Early in January they had a horrific snowfall that hindered getting in and out of their driveway and street.  What you see in this picture is just leftover snow from that storm, (taken from their front porch).  Also in the picture is our grandson Brandon.  I”m sorry he is in the shade because he has the remnants of a black eye.  He said he got it by hitting a chair. (??) We are mainly relaxing and enjoying the grandchildren.  Doug, however, has decided he can”t resist the call of the hot springs in Saratoga , WY.  He even bought a new swimsuit for the trek.  (As you can imagine, it was hard to find a swimsuit in the dead of winter here, but he managed.)

We are watching the weather forecast to time our drive home.  We were thinking of staying until after the Super Bowl, but there may be a storm coming Monday along our route, so we are not sure yet.  One of the things we MUST do is go to Brittany”s gymnastics class to see what she is able to do since we were here in the summer.  We have been given strict orders about that.

Last night we went to Giovanni”s, the only Italian restaurant in town.  It was the monthly social activity of our Sunday School class, but there were only about 10 of us.  The bread there is magnificent–homemade– and I am told that the pizzas” crusts are homemade, too.  I had Shrimp Fra Diablo, and it was spicier than I expected  (wonderful).  Everyone told the host, an older man who we thought might be the owner, how much we enjoyed things.  Then as we were getting up to leave, the chef came out and said that he had ordered cheesecake for us so we should not leave.  He brought out regular cheesecake and chocolate cheesecake for us to share–and it was free.  He sat down and talked to us.  He was the son of the older man, and he was the actual owner.  He said that he had moved to Texas with about 60 of his family, originally from Albania.  “Albania,” we exclaimed!  He told us that most Italian chefs in New York were really Albanians.  Well, whatever, he certainly does a great job.  I am glad that th