"For Cryin' Out Loud!" by Dianne Blaine Hardy

My maternal grandma is one of the coolest people I know, and now she is even cooler.

My grandma is a published author! A few years ago, she started to write her memoirs of growing up in the Uintah Basin. Then earlier this year, she decided to go ahead and publish her book.

This weekend, my grandma came out to do a book signing. It was at the local library and was supposed to go for 2 hours, but she had a constant stream of people so it ended an hour later then scheduled. She said she brought 80 books out with her and only took 13 home.

 My autographed copy of my grandma's book.

A few memories with my grandma.

When we were young, just us kids would go to her house each summer and spend the week. One of my favorite things was she would let us put sugar on our cereal. We weren't allowed to do that at home so at grandma's we would pile on the sugar.

The summer of my 6th grade year, my grandma was moving from Minnesota to North Dakota. I got to fly out (by myself) to Minnesota. Then we loaded her car and drove to North Dakota. After getting her settled, we hopped back in the car and drove back to Utah.

Every time my grandma would come visit, one of my families favorite things to do was play Hearts. Still one of my favorite memories and one of my favorite card games.

In honor of my grandma's first book, I've decided to do a blog giveaway. Leave a comment about one of your childhood memories and you will be entered to win. On Sunday, May 27th, I will draw a name and announce the winner.

 You can also purchase her book on Amazon.com HERE.

Better Than Burgers (.blogspot.com)

Josh accuses me that I spend too much time on blogger. (He's probably right, but I'm not going to admit to that and let it go to his head.) To further prove his point, I just found a new recipes blog Better Than Burgers.



What is the first link I clicked on? Their giveaway. But after that I got down to serious business and checked out their desserts. Death by chocolate anyone?

Modern Blitz Designs

I have a friend who makes the cutest cards. I'm talking Christmas cards, announcement cards, pass along cards. You name it, she can design it. She also does blog designs. The best part is all this work is for her dream of parenthood. They are looking to adopt and she is doing this design work to help raise money for their adoption plans. Check her website out at Modern Blitz Designs. Go there and check out her adorable work.
P.S. She is doing a giveaway right now.

Misc. - Catch up time!

My dear, dear computer, I can not say how much I missed you the last three weeks. My deepest apologies to Blogger and Facebook and for all my neglect. I hope to make it up to you.

Earlier this month I participated in an online blog swap at Kirstikoo. It was fun. I wanted to handmade my gifts, but I couldn't find Halloween fabric. Sometimes its tough to live in a small town. So I went with Plan B, the Quilted Bear. I had such a hard time choosing stuff because I feel in love with so many things. I love the little pumpkin; it has an electrical child proof plug on the back so you can decorate your outlets. What a great idea!


Funny thing about the swap. My friend Meka, in Las Vegas talked me into doing the swap and I knew my friend Christine in Idaho was doing it too. I was surprised when I got my name because it was someone I knew. April lived in my ward when I was growing up and she still lives in Roosevelt. So I was able to hand deliver my gift instead of mailing it.

My gift came from Andria in Michigan. I am in love with the items she sent me! My kitchen is in Sunflowers, but it's hard to find stuff for it so I absolutely LOVE the dish.

I love these magnets!

And I love this garland she made. So cute!Earlier this spring Shanna did a giveaway on her blog for handmade gifts. I received mine earlier this month and I am in awe of her talent. I wish I had just the tiniest best of her talent and could sew like her.
It keeps moving around my front room while I try to find the perfect spot for it. Right now it is resting on my little rocking chair.

Earlier this month my cousin, Jessica, and I took a trip to the city. We had a blast! Shopping at the Dress Barn, the Fashion Bug, DI and Quilted Bear. I found some Halloween shirts for my nephews (oops, I didn't take pictures!). I complained to Jessica that she always finds the cutest things at DI, but this time I had the awesome find. I got this stick horse for $1.50! I can't wait for the nephews to come over and play with it.

And the winner is...

JESSICA!!!

Jessica has been my cousin for years, but over the last few years we have been able to develop a great friendship. We have both watched families grow around us, while ours remained a family of two. But we've been there for each other to coach each other on, lend an ear to listen too, and hope for their children to come along through the miracle of adoption. Oh, and we both have a passionate love for the Quilted Bear and The Olive Garden.

The rest of you can be winners too! Marcia Lynn McClure has an e-book you can download for FREE!

To download your free copy of "The Rogue Knight", go HERE.

Giveaway

I had a hard time choosing what I wanted to do, so I decided to just give away one of my favorite books by Marcia Lynn McClure. I can't decided which of her books is my very favorite - "Divine Deception", "Sudden Storms", "Prairie Prince", "Visions of Ransom Lake", "The Highwayman of Tanglewood", "Shackles of Honor"," Born for Thorton's Sake", "The Whispered Kiss", oh I could go on forever, or at least until I run to the end of the list of all of her books!

Anyways, back to my giveaway...

Since autumn is close I decided to give away the book that has my favorite cover ever. It is also in my top 10 list of favorite books EVER.

I'm a sucker for pumpkins!

All you need to do to enter for this giveaway is leave a comment. Tell me what you like about my blog, what you would like to see, or just say hello. It's that simple. Also be sure to leave your email address in the comment.

If you would like to increase your chances at winning, each of the following is good for 1 more entry. Want to increase your odds even more? Do each of these items! Be sure to leave a comment for EACH entry and include your email address in each entry.

*Become my friend on Facebook, look me up - Savannah Christensen (leave a comment letting me know you added me as a friend) If we are already friends, leave a comment for another entry.

*Add our adoption button to your blog (leave a comment with your blog address) Already have it, leave a comment and let me know.

*Blog about how we are looking to adopt and make sure to link our adoption blog http://joshandsavannahadopt.blogspot.com (make sure to copy & paste your hyperlink in the comment so I can check it out)

*Blog about this giveaway (make sure to copy & paste your hyperlink in the comment so I can check it out)

*Become a fan of my blog and start following (leave a comment to let me know) Already a follower? Leave a comment and let me know.

*Email your family and friends a link to our adoption blog, http://joshandsavannahadopt.blogspot.com, with a short note saying you know a great couple looking to adopt and you are helping to spread the word. Be sure to include me (sourbonk@yahoo.com) in the email. (leave a comment after you sent the email).

That's up to seven different entries! The contest will end Wednesday night at 11:59 PM so be sure to get those entries in. I will announce the winner on Friday. Remember that I have comment moderation turned on, so if you don't see your comment right away, don't worry. I check them several times a day and will be sure to publish it.

And the winner is.....

MEKA!!!

Thank you to those who entered. I used a highly scientific approach to choose the winner.

I wrote the names down on separate pieces of paper, shook them up...

and then closed my eyes and picked one.Sorry, I used an orange pen which doesn't show up well in pictures.

Congratulations!

My creativeness must be hibernating because I couldn't think of much for a prize.

So Meka gets to choose her own prize from the following:

1. I will hand crochet a baby blanket for you. You can choose a boy or girl print.

2. Your choice of 3 Scentsy Scents

3. This acrylic adoption stamp set (blocks not included)

4. A Wal-mart gift card for $20.

Thanks everyone for helping to spread the word about our adoption. I plan to do more giveaways in the future, but probably after our crazy, busy summer ends.

Spotlight and a Giveaway

Right now we are in the city attending the FSA National Conference. WOW!!! It has been amazing so far. We have heard some incredible stories, met some awesome people and met some of my wonderful online friends. I will do a full recap when we get back home.

But I do have to take a moment to highlight our adoption story. Recently I made a new friend and today she did a spotlight of us on her blog, We are all mothers. Check it out HERE. She is even sponsoring a giveaway! I figured with that kind of publicity I should try to match her offer, but since I can'tmake cute stuff like that my readers will have to settle for something less. I'm not sure what the prize will be since this was a last minute decision, but I'll try to make it good.

Here's the rules:
Since I am busy with the conference and don't have time to post our story here, check our story out HERE. Leave a comment here for one entry.

Christine is offering more chances to win if you will do a post about us on your own blogs. So blog about us and then leave a comment on her blog for a chance to win her prize and then another comment here for a chance to win my not yet thought of prize.

When you blog about us be sure to leave a link to our adoption blog, http://joshandsavannahadopt.blogspot.com.

I hope I haven't confused anyone yet. The contest will run until Wednesday night. I'll post the winner on Thursday (or Friday if I get busy and need to still figure out my prize...).

Free Giveway

One of my favorite blogs to follow, The Meanest Mom, (no, she really isn't mean) has a giveaway right now for Three $50 Gift Certificates from Paper Culture. They have so cute products! Click HERE to learn how to enter the giveaway.

I'd wish everyone good luck, but I'm hoping to win myself.

Because when I win I am going to use this card to announce when we finally adopt a baby
because it's just the cutest card ever!