June 15- June 21

I hope everyone had a great Father’s Day!
Here’s what Mike got for Father’s Day:
From Angela-
-Men of Valor book on CD
-Of Lions, Dragons and Turkish Delight: C.S. Lewis for Latter-day Saints on CD
-All of the Borne movies
-Passage Way to Zarahemla movie
From Caleb-
-If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Collection and Activity Book
-A Caleb Coupon for clothing (because he spits-up on Mike a lot more than he does on me).

From Church-
a big cinnamon roll (oh, yeaaaaah!)

Congrats, by the way, to all my friends who got married or had babies this past month! YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!

Some Massachusetts Facts from the Desk of Angela:
FACT #1 Friendly’s is delicious.
Now, you westerners will not know what I am talking about, but trust me…mmmmm, mmmmm. It’s a restaurant that you to go to for the food and stay for the ice cream. We bought a new batch of Friendly’s ice cream at the Stop and Shop (ß----- this is the grocery store chain out here)… Mike got the royal banana and I got pistachio. On June 7th they give away a free scoop to every customer to celebrate summer.

FACT #2 GPS was made for places like MA.
Massachusetts does not believe in “signs” or “directions” and with all its thick woodlands here, there are no such things as “landmarks” like in Flagstaff where if you are heading towards the mountain you are heading north.

FACT #3 You can drive on the shoulder of the road. Legally.
I have no comment on this.

Caleb Bulletin:
Caleb has finally gotten down a routine… well… for now.
We wake up around 6:00, eat, and dance, eat, then he falls asleep in his swing.
Then he wake up, eats, plays, tummy time, talks, eats, lays in his play yard watching his mobile, eats, falls asleep in his swing.
Then he wakes up, plays with daddy, gets a bath, eats until about 9:00 then he sleeps in his crib until about 4:00, then I feed him and he goes back to sleep… until 6:00.
My favorite part of the routine is dancing with Caleb in the morning. He has his own playlist which includes four songs: Got My Mind Set on You, Walking on Sunshine, Don’t Pull Your Love, and Footloose. I’ve tried other songs… they just don’t work. I lay Caleb down and start playing those songs and he wiggles and giggles as he watches me dance.
He has gotten really good at talking to us. He goes “a-goo,” “naw,” “oOo,” and sometimes when you least expect it he does a “b” sound. I’ve been trying to teach him how to raz, but he hasn’t gotten it yet. (No, he is not crawling yet, Grandma.)

Here’s a summertime recipe for your ice cream!
Easy Hot Fudge Topping:
½ C sugar
2 T Cocoa
1/8 t salt
¼ C water
2 T butter
1 t vanilla

Mix first three ingredients together, put in sauce pan, add water, stir, warm mixture and add butter, once butter is melted add vanilla and boil mixture for 1 mintue. Remove from heat, let sit for two minutes. Serve over your favorite ice cream with whipped cream and chopped nuts. :)

Here are some scrapbook pages I’ve been working on for Ka-bob.

I've been using Photoshop to create the scraps on this site as well as elements from Shabby Princess.

June 8- June 14, Happy Father's Day!

Hey everybody! Here is a quick Thomson update!


On Sunday Mike was called to be the Young Men's Secetary and Assistant Scout Master. They have a great group of youth here and Mike is looking forward to working with them. :)


I, Angela, still do not have a calling, but I am keeping myself busy... mostly with Caleb. I'm hosting a book club in July, we are reading House on Mango Street, one of my favorites!

Mike and I also got the car registered and recieved our MASSACHUSETTS driver's license! In MA you don't have to take a test or anything- you fill out a form, give some identification, and you need proof of residence - then TA-DAH! You get your license. The sad part is- they don't let you keep our old license. :(

Caleb discovered something very important this week... his TOES!

He spends some time each morning watching intently as they wiggle ("How do they do that?") and becomes very sad as he attempts to grab them with his hand, falling short each reach. The first time he reached for his toes he got ithem but became frustrated when he couldn't put them in his mouth. :) Silly boy.

Lastly, here are some more recipes....
Crockpot Meatloaf:
1 lb hamburger
1 egg
crushed crackers
1 pkg of onion soup mix
4 cups of Potatoes O'Brian (peppers and onions)
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can cheese soup

Mix first four ingredents together in a bowl, form into loaf. Spray crockpot with cooking spray, place potatoes in bottom of crockpot, put the meat loaf on top of that. Combine soup in a mixing bowl and pour over crockpot contents.
Cook for 4-5 hours on LOW or whatever amount of time your crockpot needs to get the job done.

Washington Jello:
1 6 oz pkg of cherry jello
1 can of cherry pie filling
1 can crushed pineapple

Dissolve jello in 2 cups of boiling water, add in filling and pineapple, blend well, chill until set.
Top off with whipcream if desired.

June 1- June 7, It's raining, it's pouring!

It has been raining in the mornings. Wet. Wet. Wet.


Caleb and I have been staying inside keeping ourselves busy...

• watching Grandma on the webcam (finally got the sound fixed)


• playing with the blue moose plush toy


• singing songs


• I started reading a new book this week (Don't You Marry those Mormon Boys)


• cooking (go figure.) I left a recipe at the end of the post if you are interested in an easy slow-cook dinner.


• taking naps


• scrapbooking

Angela News:

I went to a ward book club on Wednesday. I used the GPS to get to the house it would be hosted at... unfortunatly Mike had the GPS set to avoid highways... I got to my distination eventually. I got to see a lot of the back roads though. It amazes me how thick the woods are here and how flat everything is. I enjoyed the book club and look forward to the next one. Although I have the tendency to appear "stand-offish," "shy" or "snobby" when I first meet people, I really did enjoy the company at the meeting. Any of my dear friends can testify that once I feel comfortable around you, I'll open up and start talking... and never stop. :)

Mike News:

Mike started work this week and seems to be enjoying himself. He has been using some backroads to get to work. We made up some pictures and put them in frames for his cubicle. He got the computer up and running for the most part. He has been such a great help to me with Caleb. We are so lucky to have such a great daddy! This Sunday is Mike's first Father's Day! Exciting! I'm going to make meatloaf and potatoes and jell-o for dessert.

Caleb News:

We have been trying to develop a nightly routine with Kabob. Around 7:00 pm he takes a bath... whether he likes it or not... sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't, after the bath he eats, if he is still awake we walk from room to room saying "Goodnight, (whatever room)"... then if he still isn't asleep he nurses some more. He usually drifts off to sleep by 9:00.

Caleb is experiencing another growth spurt on top of his teething... so.... he is miserable for the most part and wants to cuddle a lot.

He has been doing well with playtime spending 15-40 mintues at a time content by himself. He likes to lay in his play yard and watch the mobile or lay on the floor and raise his butt up in the air or suck on his hands. He gets so mad if you put him on his belly now... he is so close to crawling... his arms won't let him move though... he doesn't have the coordination yet and he gets frustrated.

Here's another picture scrap of Kabob.

Easy Slow-Cook Pasta Recipe:
You will need:

1 red bell pepper, 1 yellow bell pepper, both cut into strips
1 cup frozen broccoli
1 jar of alferdo or parmesan cheese sauce
optional: 1 or 2 browned chicken breasts seasoned with garlic salt, oregano and pepper.
egg noodles

Place everything but the noodles in a slow cooker on low for 3 hours (or more depending on your cooker). When chicken is done cut up and return it back to the cooker. Prepare pasta al dente and toss it into the cooker for the last 30 mintues.

Until next week... keep your ears clean!