Short Person Syndrome

When I hang out with some of my friends, I am the short one.  I am 5'5" so that tells you how tall these women are.  We met at Brio for dinner and to catch up because it had been too long.  I love these women.  They are strong, independent, opinionated, and amazing! 

Me, Jen, Cynthia, Rachel, Rochelle

After dinner I went shopping with Rachel and Rochelle and we met up with Rachelle and Tonya.  Yes, you read that right!  Rachel, Rochelle and Rachelle.  We also have two Jennifers, but the other one lives in Tulsa and couldn't fly in for the night.  We also have a Sally who was there earlier, but had a family party to go to.  Every single one of these women have been through some big challenges in life.  It is a powerful testament to the strength of women!  I am so grateful to count them as friends. 

Book Club Christmas Party

It seems like all we do during the month of December is go to parties.  And that would be true.  I love it.  However, I think that my Book Club Christmas party each year is my favorite.  This year it was held at Leslie's house (Lou Lou).  She moved to a new house that was already furnished (it was a model home) the week before she hosted.   We always do a fancy dinner and a white elephant book exchange that brings a great deal of humor to the evening. 

Our fearless ham-eating hostess

Lindsey and Natalie

Allison, Marcy, Keysha and Rachel

Lindsey, Nat and Emily

Kerri, Leslie, Allison and Marcy

Keysha, Cori, Kristen and Tiffany

And the funniest book of the night...

Neighborhood Christmas Party 2011

For the past several years we have had a neighborhood Christmas party at my house.  Everyone brings cookies or treats to share and each year we choose a different charity to donate to as a neighborhood.  This year it was the Utah Foster Care Foundation.  My friend, Michelle, has fostered and then adopted three boys over the past few years (cute kids!) and so she chose the charity for us.  In the past we have done the Road Home, the Utah Food Bank, and Primary Children's Hospital.  It's a fun way to start the Holidays! 

Michelle, Heidi, Judd and their kiddos

Becca and Jennifer

Riding the bench - Harrison, Judd, Aaron, Colin and Ryan

The cookie grabbing begins!

Everyone having a good time visiting

I had to keep her from inhaling 10 treats

My cute kid

Loree, Michelle and Lou(ri)

Cindy, Rachel and Kristen

Cute girls!

Can you believe there is a two year age difference?  Guess which one is older.

Loree, Lou(ri), Me, Cori and Kristen - the five of us used to all live across the street and next to each other, but Loree and Cori moved.  It was great to be back together for a minute!

A Simple Problem

Tonight Kristen hosted our third annual Christmas book club, which consists of a dinner and book exchange. It is always my secret most favorite Christmas party because not only do I know everyone there, I know them well, and everyone is very comfortable with one another after so many years in this club.

Kristen is the perfect person to play hostess for this particular month because she is the queen of making everything look like it is straight out of Martha Stewart or Real Simple. This year was no exception! She even had parting gifts of homemade bread. She never ceases to amaze me with her fun ideas.

So what is my problem? I have signed up to host book club in March. And since that really is only a couple of months away, I decided to get on the ball and find a book so that I can get it read over the Holidays. I jumped on Barnes and Noble and figured it would be easy. I would look at best sellers.

Right.

Did you know every best seller is written by either Barack Obama or Stephenie Meyer?

So I went to Good Reads in order to scour Kacy and Tara's lists. Kacy's are weird and eclectic and of the neurotic self-help genre. Just kidding - they aren't. She is extremely well-read. But most of her books are not the easy fiction that my group requires. So I went to Tara's list for help. She has reviewed 525 books. I'm still trying to get over that. I mean, in my life I am pretty sure I have read that many, but I couldn't remember them if you paid me. Well, maybe I could depending on how much you paid me.

And then I saw it. On Tara's list. THE BOOK. The book for March. The book that I would move mountains to read in the next few months.

Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey by Alison Weir

Last year I did The Constant Princess about Katherine of Aragon. This will be the perfect follow-up. I can't wait.

In fact, I think I'll just go with historical fiction surrounding Henry VIII from here on out.

My book club will love me.