AND THE WINNER IS!

(Drum roll) The winner for the contest yesterday is

WINNER: Chris Okelberry of Utah
ANSWER: 14

She wins a copy of my book.

Be sure to enter the treasure hunt contest today by checking out Sarah M. Eden's special question. Maybe you will be lucky and win.

Summer Treasure Hunt

Here are the rules for the Summer Treasure Hunt contest by Joyce Dipastena –

You can send in an entry for each day’s prize, or only for those prizes that strike your fancy. The rules are simple:

(1) Go to the website or blog indicated for each day, find the answer to the question for that day, then email the answer with your name and AND MAILING ADDRES to jdipastena@yahoo.com.or
http://jdp-news.blogspot.com/2010/05/2nd-annual-summer-treasure-hunt- dig-for_20.html I promise you will not wind up on any mailing lists. This is only to facilitate the receipt of your prize. All entries will be deleted at the end of the contest. You can also click on my sidebar under my blogging friends, on her name.

(2) Please send a separate entry for each day and type the day you are entering in the subject line. (Such as: Summer Treasure Hunt, Day 27).

(3) Deadline for each day: Midnight PST

(4) The winner will be contacted and announced on the day following the deadline.

All winners will be “drawn” by RANDOM.ORG.

You do not have to wait until the designated day to enter. You can start sending in your entries right now, or begin entering at any point along the way. And check back here each day between June 2nd-July 9th to read the names of the winners.

Sad, but true, the contest is almost over, and today is my day. Be sure to enter to win a copy of my book.

June 28
SPONSOR: C. LaRene Hall
PRIZE: Martha’s Freedom Train (middle grade historical), autographed by both author and illustrator
QUESTION: How many short stories has C. LaRene Hall published in the humorous anthology, Mormon Mishaps and Mischief? (Hint: Look in the left hand sidebar)
WEBSITE/BLOG: http://www.clhall.blogspot.com/
USA ENTRIES ONLY

I’m listing the rest of the treasure hunt sponsors so if you aren’t lucky enough to win today maybe you’ll get one of the other ones.

June 29-SPONSOR: Sarah M. Eden
June 30-SPONSOR: Marcia Mickelson
July 1-SPONSOR: Kimberly Job
July 2-SPONSOR: Joan Sowards
July 3-SPONSOR: Margaret L. Turley RN
July 4-SPONSOR: Joyce DiPastena

Book Signing

Everyone is invited to attend a book signing of Martha’s Freedom Train by C. LaRene Hall at the Mayhew Cabin & with John Brown's Cave, at 2012 4th Corso, Nebraska City, Nebraska on Wednesday, July 21, 2010. She will also be at the local library during that day. Times will be announced later.

Rebound

by Heather Justesen

With a successful husband, a gorgeous home, and a growing family, Lily Drake has it all. But when the FBI shows up, she realizes her husband is not the man she thought he was.

Meanwhile, Lily's friend Curtis is about to be drafted by the NBA, but he suddenly feels pulled to find his birth family, and no one is prepared for what he'll discover. With so many obstacles in their way, Lily and Curtis must learn to rely on each other if they're ever going to find peace and learn to love again.

In this heartwarming family drama, Heather Justesen, author of The Ball's in Her Court, weaves a stirring story of hope. Reunite with your favorite characters and discover how determination, love, and faith can overcome even the toughest trials.

Rebound is not a sequel to Heather’s other book, The Ball’s In Her Court, but the storyline is a continuation of a story started in that book, so expect to see some familiar characters and family members.

After reading Ball's In Her Court I was anxious to read more about some of the character's and was thrilled when Heather asked me to read her newest story. I knew the story would be a good clean romance and would have plenty of action to keep me turning the pages. This is a story that you don't want to miss. It's about adoption, families, finding parents, trust, fraud, and moving on into the future. Everyone who loves a good romance will enjoy this story.

Canticle Kingdom by Michael Young

Enter a beautiful world full of magic, danger, loyalty, and bravery in The Canticle Kingdom, and discover that even the most ordinary objects and people might be hiding something truly wonderful inside.

Read Cami's review on www.http://camicheckettsbooks.blogspot.com or click on the sidebar under my blogging friends under Cami. She said she would definitely recommend this book to middle-grade through adult readers. You can win a free copy of The Canticle Kingdom by being a follower of her blog. The other rules are on her blog page. You do need to hurry because the contest ends next week on June 16, 2010.

Contest and Interview

Today it is my turn to do an interview with C. L. Beck and D. N. Giles about their book, Mormon Mishaps and Mischief, but first I need to tell you about their FANTASTIC GIVEAWAY going on! They're running a blog tour, with a terrific prize ... a $150 advertising package in the YourLDSNeighborhood.com Newsletter . This is a great prize because you get to advertise your product/self/blog/books/what-have-you for a FULL year for FREE if you win.

If I were you, I’d enter now. As you can see today is the last day of the blog tour, and if you’re anything like me, you might forget and miss the deadline which is May 16.
----

The Mormon Mishaps and Mischief Giveaway and Blog Tour!

In celebration of Mothers, and all they do for us, Mormon Mishaps authors C.L. Beck and D.N. Giles have put together a giveaway in conjunction with a week-long blog tour. If you aren’t interested in winning a fantastic advertising package valued at $150, you can stop reading now.

Wait, you’re still reading. That must mean you want to hear about our prize package, correct? Well. Okay then.

Let me first tell you a little about our sponsors, yourLDSneighborhood.com and YourLDSradio.com.

yourLDSneighborhood.com is an online shopping mall which features innovative products and LDS-based services, and great ideas for your home, all without the worries of questionable content. Shopping categories include Clothing, Music, Preparedness, Family Entertainment, Scrapbooking, Books and Art, Health and Food, Travel and Recreation, Weddings and more! Visit yourLDSneighborhood.com today.

Your LDS Neighborhood Newsletter is a free online newsletter that comes three times a week right to your email inbox. It provides topical stories and insights that set the tone for your day. The newsletter brings you articles, products, services, resources, and interviews from around the world, all with an LDS focus. Sign up today by clicking here!

YourLDSradio.com commits to bringing you the best in LDS Music – all day, every day and it is totally FREE to listen! Make them your web-surfing companion. It's free and easy to use and makes for the perfect online companion. Listen for yourself at yourLDSradio.com!

Okay, and now for the prize!

Your LDS Neighborhood has offered a YEAR LONG advertising package which includes space on the Neighborhood website as well as tiles in the newsletter. Were you to purchase advertising with them, this package would cost $150.

Here’s the best part. You don’t have to be LDS to advertise with the Neighborhood. As long as the business, blog, or product you’re promoting is family friendly, this advertising package will benefit you. Neighborhood ads are viewed daily around the globe, and by thousands of people.

So how do you win?

Entries will be accepted between May 4th and midnight, MST, May 16th. On May 17th, (or as close there about as possible) the winners will be chosen and announced on the LDS Humor blog. Although it's not required for entry, please take a minute to read the Mormon Mishaps and Mischief review/interview I've posted. Then, you must do the following four things to enter (but don't worry, they aren't hard):

1. Follow my blog, here.
2. Leave a comment here, at this blog.
3. Follow the LDS Humor blog.
4. Follow the Your LDS Neighborhood Newsletter blog.

Extra entries:
1. Blog about this contest, then come back and leave either a url address or a link in a comment.
2. Follow me on Twitter. (Bloggers, you can hyperlink this to your twitter page if you’d like, or include your twitter username.) And then tweet the contest. (Make sure to mention this in a comment.)
3. Facebook the contest. If your Facebook page is private, and I’m not your friend, I can’t see that you’ve done this, so you’ll need to friend me.(Same goes here.) Be sure to leave the link to where you've FB'd the contest in a comment.

All of these options can be mentioned in a single comment, and you can enter at all the participating blogs, as long as you follow and leave a comment for those bloggers so they know you love them.

You may enter this contest here, as well as on any of the tour posts at the following blogs:

May 4th Rachelle Christensen
May 4th Shirley Bahlmann
May 5th Karlene Browning
May 5th Heather Gardener, Fire and Ice Book Reviews
May 6th Kellie Buckner
May 6th Rachel Rager
May 7th Shauna Chambers
May 7th Heather Justesen
May 10th LDS Humor Blog
May 10th Keith Fisher
May 11th Tristi Pinkston
May 11th Rebecca Talley
May 12th Taffy Lovell
May 12th Kimberly Job
May 13th Connie Hall
May 13th Ali Cross

To purchase Mormon Mishaps and Mischief click here.
----

For those of you who haven’t heard about this book on the back jacket is says: This collection of humorous anecdotes from celebrated LDS authors shows off Church members at their finest. From Primary pranks to cheeky comments made by Zion’s youth to high priest hijinks, no age group is immune to the potential for humor. Though it might not be in the official Word of Wisdom, laughter really is the best medicine. Whether you’re a senior missionary or an eight-year-old graduating to senior Primary, you’re bound to get a kick out of these silly stories.

Some statistics about this book are listed below:
* 200 stories in the book.
* 78 are written by Cindy.
* 48 are written by Nichole.
* The book took six months to write, and another year and a half to publication with Cedar Fort Inc.

Now for the interview –
Q. What prompted you to write Mormon Mishaps and Mischief?

Cindy: The moon was full, Aquarius was on the cusp, and the chickens were molting, all of which combined to make this the right time for a book of humorous anecdotes. Well, that and the pantry was empty, so a book that might actually sell a few copies seemed like a good idea.

Nichole: What Cindy says might be true. Or it could be that one sunny spring morning, one of us woke up and said, “I think I’ll write a book of humorous anecdotes today.” Then there was email involved. Lots of email. And brainstorming and collecting and chocolate eating. And maybe some Twinkies. Thus, the proposal for a book of humorous anecdotes was born.

Q. What’s your favorite story in the book?

Cindy: There’s this fantastic story about a crotchety old man who gets visited by three ghosts at Christmas, and by the end of the story, he vows to keep Christmas … oh wait, that’s Charles Dickens’ stuff. All right then, my next favorite is “A Good Impression” contributed by Cathy Witbeck. It’s about a little girl who gets all decked out for Easter and puts something interesting into her purse to take to church. (But I’m not going to tell you what, because it would ruin the fun.) On the other hand, I do have to tell you that because they’re all so funny, my favorite story changes about every five minutes.

Nichole: I’m with Cindy. Choosing just one favorite would be like playing favorites between my children. Which I’ve never done. Ever. I’m a good mother. I promise. Oh, but speaking of motherhood, there are several stories about children doing funny things, like licking worms and bringing a head of lettuce to pray. Love all of those.

Q. Where do the stories come from?

Cindy: From the demented … er … I mean, the creative genius of our minds. And from the funny events that we, and our contributors, saw happening at church, home and everywhere in between. Rest assured, however, that all contributors to the book signed a statement that the stories were true, and so even though real names were seldom used in the anecdotes, the situations actually happened. Which means if you think you recognize your bishop in there, well … we’ll never tell.

Nichole: None of them came from my current ward. They all came from other people’s wards, which I visited while wearing my invisibility cloak. So if you happen to be in my ward and recognize a story or five or twenty, well I didn’t see those things or write them down in my handy-dandy notebook. Er. Um. I mean…I plea the fifth?

Q. Thank you for letting me interview you. Do you have anything you’d like to add?

Cindy and Nichole: It was our pleasure! Readers can visit us at our website, MormonMishaps.com, or laugh with us at our humor blog at ldshumor.blogspot.com. In addition, there are our personal blogs—follow Nichole at nicholegiles.blogspot.com or Cindy at bythebecks.blogspot.com.

We really like having followers. It makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Plus, we like to post funny stuff and make you laugh.

---

Monster Concert

Lately, I’ve been telling you about different book that I just read, but today I want to tell you about an amazing concert I attended on Saturday evening. It was the 2010 Monster Concert, held at the Libby Gardner Concert Hall at the University of Utah. I love all kinds of music and I’ve attended many concerts every year.

As soon as I walked in, I knew this was different from any concert I have ever attended before. On the stage were 13 pianos. Now picture this picture 12 more times. That's how many piano's there were.

Then I scanned the program. It wasn’t about Beethoven and Bach. Instead, it was music from the 70’s. The music I was going to hear was from The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. There was even disco music. One of my favorite songs played was Dancing Queen.

During some of the songs, every piano was in use. When they performed, After The Love Has Gone, they used only seven pianos with fourteen piano players, two at each piano. This concert only lasted a little over one hour, but I was enjoying it enough they could have gone on for many more hours.

With all the challenges going on in my personal life right now, this was a lifesaver for me. I needed a night to just relax and enjoy something worthwhile and uplifting. Too often, I fail to take the time to enjoy an evening listening to one of the better things in life, good, clean music.