My Better Half

1. What is his name? Michael Dean Thomson

2. Who eats more? We use to try to out eat each other… but after being pregnant I can’t stomach that much food anymore, so he does. Where he puts it, I’ll never know.

3. Who said, "I love you" first? I remember writing “love ya” at the end of my e-mails to him, but I think he was the first one to step up and say that he had feelings for me.

4. Who is taller? Michael is- he is 6’1” and I am 5’7.5”

5. Who is smarter? Michael wins that one again. Most of the time, I have no idea what he is talking about.

6. Who is more sensitive? I am, by far.

7. Who does the laundry? We switched back and forth for a long time, but now that we are out of school and I’m at home, I do.

8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? We like to switch this up every now and again. It really feels good on your back OR makes you appreciate your own side a little bit more. Currently I’m on the side closest to the door. By the way… which right side? Like, if you are facing the bed or when you are in the bed?

9. Who pays the bills? Michael does. He makes the money and manages it.

10. Who cooks more? I do, although he is very talented in the kitchen. Making Boston Crème Pie… and mac n’ cheese… breakfast… cereal… frozen pizzas… grilled cheese sandwiches… salsa and chips… the list goes on.

11. Who is more stubborn? Geez. We are both stubborn in our own ways. We will leave it at that.

12. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? It depends on the occasion.

13. Who has more siblings? Technically, he does. He has four siblings while I have two halves… which only gives me one whole.

14. Who wears the pants in the relationship? At this time, neither… it’s been Caleb mostly these days.

15. What do you like to do together? Before Caleb… we liked to: read together, watch movies, go on long car trips, take pictures, discuss many topics, go to the temple often, and EAT. We love to eat. Now, we just eat… and play with Caleb and take pictures of Caleb.

16. Who eats more sweets? I beige and then can go for months without sweets. Mike’s appetite is pretty constant.

17. Guilty Pleasures? Playing Rise of Nations, Need for Speed, Bloons and eating junk food for breakfast and cereal for snacks... and Harry Potter (I've created a monster).

18. His best features and qualities? I love my husband’s strong facial features. I know I make fun of it often, but his nose is very handsome and reminds me of the portraits of Joseph Smith. His eyes are a beautiful blue. My husband reevaluates himself regularly; he is always trying to improve himself. He is service-oriented, and is always doing more than his share of the work. He loves to learn. He learned to swing dance and waltz for me. Because he enjoys learning, he is a wonderful teacher.

Food Storage

When we first got married we made the amateur mistake of “investing” in soup mix. We have enough soup mix ‘til Kingdom come. Literally.
Before we moved we bought the Starter Kit which includes:
Two #10 cans of hard red winter wheat (11 lbs. total net weight)
Two #10 cans of white rice (10.8 lbs. total net weight)
One #10 can of pinto beans (5.2 lbs. net weight)
One #10 can of quick oats (2.4 lbs. net weight)

We also gathered together three weeks of meals which helped a lot when we first got to Franklin. It tied us over until we got settled.

This past Sunday our Bishop called a family in our ward to dine on their food storage for two weeks… after that… I’ve decided that maybe I should practice using my food storage a little bit more… a lot more than putting soup mix in every batch of soup I make.
So, the menu for September includes some pinto bean dishes [homemade refried beans and Spanish rice, and pork and beans (taking baby steps here)] along with the usual:
beef roast, Italian beef subs, stroganoff, hot dogs and potato salad, chowder and twice baked potatoes, potato soup, baked alfredo, Asian chicken, crock pot pasta, white pizza and easy meals. We are working on a beef, chicken and potato rotation this month if you can't tell.
I would try to be adventurous and make the pinto bean fudge that was show cased at a ward activity in Flagstaff but… I found the recipe and it requires TWO POUNDS of POWDER SUGAR.
Ew. No wonder you couldn’t taste the beans.

Caleb:
We’re going to try and get Caleb to try some rice cereal… we’ll let you know the highlights as the solids saga continues.

I encourage everyone to share their food storage experiences!
SALT LAKE CITY 14 August 2008 Church Public Affairs is asking Church members to share their experiences with maintaining and utilizing food storage by posting video, text or other content on personal blogs, video-sharing sites like YouTube, social media sites like Facebook, or other Internet sites. Members can then e-mail a link to their story to publicaffairs-slc@ldschurch.org. The Newsroom site may link to some of them in an upcoming Web package on the Church welfare program, but in any case the stories may be beneficial to others who read them on the Web.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has long encouraged its members to store extra food to provide for possible future needs caused by economic hardship, disasters or other emergencies. Encouraging individual members to be prepared is part of the Church’s overall welfare plan.
http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/sharing-food-storage-preparedness-stories-with-new-media

August 17- August 23, Three Years!

(I made the green ribbon, the announcement, the envelopes and seal! I'm getting good at this!)

Where did you meet?
We had so many opportunities to meet! We took a summer Institute course together. The class was small (like, four people), but we never really got to talking. We also were attending the same ward. I was actually asked to visit his brother and him after his mom’s death for compassionate service, but had to decline because of a family gathering.
Where we officially meet was at an Institute Welcome Back Dance in August.
He asked me to dance. Swoon.

What was the first thing you said to each other?
Well, I had just finished a dancing with David… Dave had been the EQP of our ward for awhile, and my roommate and, well, every girl I interacted with had a crush on him. So, I was familiar with Thomson territory, I guess.
Therefore, I opened with a joke, “So, how long have you been Dave’s brother?”
Being the youngest sibling, myself, I understood being referred to as “so-and-so’s sibling.” No one ever introduced Mike as “Mike” but as “Dave’s brother.”
And without missing a beat, Mike says, “Since the beginning of summer.”
Now, that is comedy. We laughed. I asked a few more questions. Asked where he was living. We found out we were living in the same apartment complex… even though we had no idea we were building neighbors.
At the end of the dance I gave him a plastic blue flower (it was Hawaiian theme, oh yeah, I was wearing a grass skirt, by the way) and told him to “stop by sometime.”

Where was your first date?
It took him another month to ask me out on a date!
We went to a NAU girl’s soccer match (still don’t know who won) and went to the Mandarin Buffet… where the waiter hit on me.

In Mike’s defense, he did ask me out once before… and I flat-out rejected him. BUT, in my defense, he came over at 8:00 in the morning after staying over ‘til 2:00 am talking. He asked if I wanted to go hiking…. ummm..... raincheck?

Where was your first kiss?
Ha. I kicked out all my roommates for the night, for our second date. I made tacos, my great-grandmother’s rice dish and guacamole. He brought the Boston cream pie, of course. We watched Serendipity on the couch. And HE kissed me. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

How long did you date?
We became an official couple on October 16, 2004, by November 19, 2004, I knew I wanted to marry this guy. We got engaged on March 3, 2005, and then got married that summer.

Where did you get engaged?
Michael asked me to marry him at my favorite temple, the Saint George Temple.
I was feeling SO sick. I was trying so hard to hide it. We were visiting because his dad was getting married, so I didn’t want to be a downer.
When I was little whenever I was really sick, like, throwing up, my dad would bring me home a stuffed animal. I had told Mike this before.
We were walking the grounds and he asked me, “How are you feeling?”
I was being a trooper and said, “I’m doing okay.”
“Oh,” he said, “then I guess I can’t give you this.” He pulled a stuffed animal frog out of his pocket. He had sown its hands to the ring box.
Then he proposed. You know, on his knee and everything, all the good stuff.
The bench he actually proposed at is no longer there. Sad day.

When were you married?
We were married August 20, 2005 in the Saint George Temple, in the large sealing room off of the Celestial room. It was an all-white ceremony.

How did your reception go?
Ha. What reception? After we were sealed we had a small luncheon and then went off to do better things for the rest of the day. I feel sorry for people who stand in line for most of their wedding day and night.

How was your honeymoon?
SO. MUCH. FUN.
We went to San Diego. We visited the beach, the zoo, Balboa Park, and the temple. Right next to our hotel was a restaurant that made Dutch pancakes with apples, they were amazing!

August 10- August 16, The Breakers and Castle Hill Lighthouse

The Breakers is a Vanderbilt mansion. It consists of 70 rooms and has approximately 65,000 sq ft of living space. The home was constructed between 1893 and 1895 at a cost of more than seven million dollars (approximately $150 million in today's dollars adjusted for inflation). It rests on a 13 are plot of land that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. The estate’s name comes from the breaking waves that can be seen and heard from the property.

Mike chose to take Monday off, so we went on another New England adventure. This time we visited The Breakers mansion and the Castle Rock Lighthouse in Newport, RI.

A whopping 1 hour drive!
Here are some pictures of the day's scenery:

THE BREAKERS

panorama courtesy of Mike
I've decided that this lawn would be the perfect place

to read The Great Gatsby. I know, I 'm a nerd.

Tragically, we were not allowed to take pictures inside the mansion.
A lot of the room decor reminded us of the Salt Lake and Mesa temple.
The tour was about an hour long, and Caleb was good for all of it!
Many a' old ladies were impressed.

THE CASTLE HILL LIGHTHOUSE

The best part of the day was spending time together.

August 8, Rest in Peace Big Grandma

click for a larger view

August 3- August 9, Num Nums

Food:

When we first got married for the sake of budget and sanity I made up a monthly menu. Then during the second year of marriage and before we had Caleb, I did once a month cooking (OAMC). I love doing OAMCing, especially breakfasts because Mike is a breakfast person and I am not. And the only thing I hate more than eating breakfast is making it.

Now that Caleb is around I can't set aside a day to cook 10-15 meals and freeze them. Maybe when he is older. So, I resort back to monthly menus, not because we are poor starving college students but because we only have one car and it sucks adding a shopping trip unto Mike's commute.

So this month we having: meatloaf, spaghetti, sloppy joes, stuffed bell peppers, tacos, chicken alfredo, BBQ chicken sandwiches, Hawaiian Haystacks, stir-fry, and chicken salad sandwiches. Each of these meals will have leftovers. HOORAY. We also have emergency meals set aside for Mike to cook when I am too tired... these include his culinary masterpieces of mac n cheese, frozen pizza, and breakfast for dinner.

BABIES change your life, people. It helps less organized people realize the importance of a routine and OCD people (like my husband and myself) to realize WHO THE CRAP CARES if the laundry isn't done. My apartment is disgusting, but my baby sure does smile a lot when I read Dr. Seuss to him.

Overall, the change is a good thing. I highly recommend it to people.



Caleb:
Change is not always painless though. Every month since Caleb was two months he has a few days where is "teething." It seems to be that time again. Drooling. Gnawing. Rubbing his face. Waking up during the night. Cranky Pants. All the signs are there.
Poor Kabob.
The only person he likes right now is Daddy.

July 27- August 2, Wiggles & Giggles

Caleb is now four months old and now we are finally getting to the good part. It's not that the other four months weren't endearing, it's just that they were, well, boring.

Caleb now recognizes us, and recognizes toys. WE are his favorite toys. He plays games with us- like peek-a-boo, patty cake, and mommy's favorite: kiss and thank you. This is where I kiss Caleb on the cheek, then say "You're Welcome" then Caleb "kisses" me on the cheek (he just opens his mouth and sometimes tries to lick me- already trying to slip girls the tongue, eh Caleb?) then I say, "Thank you!"
You can set a clock to his naps now, which is great. This allows me to write and work on my book.

SIDE NOTE:
OH? You say that you did not know I am writing a book? Well, I am. Don't have a title yet, and I don't want to waste the blog space talking about it, so ask me in person or e-mail me if you wanna know more! But, I will tell you this, I am so tempted to send my first three completed chapters to Deseret just to get it over with... but I don't for one reason...KNOWING MY LUCK, they would accept the transcript and would want the rest of the novel and, well, I DON'T HAVE IT DONE.
THAT, my friends, IS MY LUCK.

It also allows me to read, do some photoshopping (I've been creating my own LDS-themed kits), and, sometimes, clean if I feel like it.

Michael has been having fun playing basketball every Saturday at church. He has also been making friends at work.

It's ALL GOOD.

By the way, congrats to all our friends who recently added two feet to their homes, and good vibes to those still under construction!