Chugar and Hunny: Book Club

Before Christmas, a friend of mine put together a book club with a few of the mom's from our church. I picked a book for everyone to read and hosted book club at my place this past Wednesday. We read "Heaven is here" by Stephanie Nielson. Thanks for the suggestion Lisa! It's a true story about a young mom who is in a helicopter crash with her husband and gets severely burned on 80% of her body. Her story is one of hope and inspiration. She takes you through her romantic courtship with her husband and her almost sickly fairytale life as a mother and wife, to her crash and her painful healing process to her new life as a burn victim. I loved the book for the inspirational message and her strength and testimony in Heavenly Father. I could have done without so much detail in the first part of the book about her married life as I thought it was a little 'too perfect.' That being said, she has inspired me to become a better wife and mother. I would give this book a 4 out of 5.

Here is a video of Stephanie Nielson and her story:

Hosting book club was a ton of fun! We talked a lot about the book and snacked on some treats. When we were finished discussing the book I had a little activity for everyone to do. Every year on the anniversary of Stephanie's helicopter crash, she hikes up to the Y in Provo (a 'mountain' in Utah) with her family and friends and they let off helium balloons. In honor of this, I had everyone write a little inspirational message on a note card and we tied them to some balloons. Well, Wednesday night was cold and windy and the note cards were a little on the heavy side. Haha Needless to say, it didn't work as well as I planned. One balloon popped on a tree, one got stuck on the neighbors fence and some more got stuck in the trees. It was pretty funny and Ben caught it all on video. (Video posted below) I hope the inspirational messages make up for the trash my neighbors might find on their lawns.