It's true!

Hello my beloved ladies!!!

I just wanted to drop you a line and say I REALLY am here. I am sad I didn't catch the movie with you guys last Tuesday. :( It's a little tricky getting a sitter when a. you'd be getting one to stay with your kids in a house that's not even yours (it was my sisters) b. you don't know any sitters. c. you'd have to wake the kids up to take a sitter home. It just was not worth it. :)

Anyway, the news is I found a house to rent and it's great. Love the neighborhood, ward, and my bedroom closet. We (or should I say "I" since Kyle was gone before I had found a place) moved in over the weekend to a great little twin-home. Love it. We will be in it and in the mean time Kyle and I will be looking for a home to buy to take advantage of the fantastic buyers market. Don't know how long I'll be in this actual home, but we plan on being in Utah County for a looong time. "Loooong Time" in Woodbury Speak is probably the equivalent to like 4 years, but who knows! We are here indefinitely and I couldn't be happier. It's really nice to be able to settle back in to my dear friends I was so sad to leave behind when I went to Chicago. Really, your friendships mean so much to me.

So yes, this is a sappy little post to just say Hi! I am here and I can't wait to see you!! I'm happy to volunteer my place for the next book club. September. Rumor has it we are going to attempt to go literary again! Book ideas? Oh, FYI I am also happy to drive to anyone else's place, too. I just feel like I've been such a mooch over the last few years with book club. I'd love to contribute however.

xoxo,
michelle

Michelle is back!

Totally random event: last night I drove one of Steve’s friends home, just after 10pm, so it’s a nice drive with the top down, etc. On the way back, just before we passed Target on Orem Center, this cute girl (Steve actually thought it was one of his friends, she could still pass for a teenager) in the car next to me (which is all loaded up with stuff on top and in the back) starts yelling and waving, and I look over, and it’s MICHELLE (and the rest of her family)!
So we pull off the road into the Target parking lot for a nice mini-reunion right then and there. She and the fam all look fabulous, of course (though it was way past the kids bedtime, and they were not so happy right then).
Turns out, they came for a wedding this week, and figured the timing was right to move as well, so here they are! She says she won’t have Internet for probably a week or so while they get settled, but you can call her, same number as always. Kyle will be going back to Chicago to wrap things up with work (for about a month), so for a while she's kinda on her own, but she's HERE!
Welcome back Michelle! we've missed you!
When are we getting together?
(sent an email this morning on this, but just found out some of you might not have gotten it, so I decided I'd post this as well)

group email

I have set up, and sent invites for, a group email. If you didn't get the invite, please comment so I can send you one. (Charity's email didn't "allow" me to send the invite?) My family uses one to stay in touch, and we really like it. When you send to the group, all replies go to everyone in the group automatically, making sure that everyone can stay in the loop. If you want to only reply to one person, you would have to put in their email instead. I know sometimes you don't want to talk to the whole group, but so often, we hit reply, thinking we hit "reply all", and we wonder why nobody else knows what we're talking about later.
Google also archives group messages. I have made it private. I have to invite someone if we add a new book clubber, or if someones email changes. I invited all the girls, including those out of state. If we think we'd prefer to have two groups, one for all of us, and one for locals only, I can do that, too.
I think we'll like communicating this way - especially when it's time for book club, and we want to be sure everyone gets all the important info!

update: please be sure you look for the email from "noreplygooglegroups" or something like that, which may have ended up in your junk mail (it did in mine) and click the URL to accept the invite.

Lost in Austen on DVD

I know we're supposed to post about books and get-togethers here, but I just had to tell everyone about this fantastic (book-related) movie.

They ran this on KUED recently, but as I missed the first couple episodes (it's almost 3 hours, so they ran it as a mini-series), I had to get this on my Netflix.

If you are a fan of Jane Austen, especially Pride & Prejudice, you MUST see this movie!

Basic plot-line: Pride & Prejudice is Amanda Price's favorite novel. She'd rather stay at home alone reading about Elizabeth and Darcy than spend an evening with her boyfriend. One evening, she discovers a door in her apartment that leads into the Bennet home, and meets Elizabeth Bennet. Next things she knows, she's somehow swapped places with Elizabeth, coming in at the very beginning of the novel, and Elizabeth is living in present-day London. Elizabeth has no intention of coming back, so Amanda must try to keep events flowing as they should, all the while trying to re-open the door and get back to her own reality.

So many great plot twists and unexpected moments, details of the characters lives we have never known before. LOVED this movie!

Small Crowd

Not many of us were there, but we still had a good time. We had dinner at Iggy's and then visited on a patch of lawn in front of Laurel's work (just across the street from dinner). Thanks for the fun night girls! We missed all of you who couldn't make it! Hopefully next month we'll have a better turn out.

Maggie's Miracle

So this is one of those books I like to call a Candy Read.

It's endearing, emotional and I can finish it in a couple sittings. I would put Kingsbury in the same category of Nicholas Sparks and Richard Paul Evans.

I don't want to give it away....but what really struck me is how the book began in the point of view of a young boy. It really began to make me see through my children's eyes. I don't suppose that was the goal of the author, but that is one thing I gained after reading this book. I don't want to give any more away.... just know the storyline that will tug at your heartstrings.

Has anyone else read other books by her?

Child of My Heart

How many of you have read this one? I know it's been borrowed by a couple of you, at least. What did you think of it? It is one of my all-time personal favorites. My dad is writing an article, involving this book, and would like some comments to add from anyone who read it. Anyone willing to share?