A Taste of Home

It's always nice to return home to Pennsylvania. But while I enjoy visiting my family and friends, I'm really sneaking out my "Taste of Home" list and checking items off one by one.

 For example, my all time favorite potato chips are only found in Pennsylvania. And oh, they are simply divine! Middleswarth, how I love thee!

A few weeks ago, I drove through PA with my oldest daughter. I told her that you know when you're definitely in PA when you go to a buffet and they serve pickled eggs. My Great Aunt Erma used to make pickled eggs for our family holiday meals and throughout the summer too. They're not only pretty, but a delicious tangy treat.

Another absolute must - a stop at OIP. (That's Original Italian Pizza for y'all not from Pennsylvania). No need for toppings. Just grab a slice of classic cheese and your taste buds will thank you.

Anyone traveling through PA absolutely must stop for a cheesesteak sub. There's only one state that makes them right - and you have to go to a local bar to get the best. My fave location is The Old Corner in Lock Haven. My order always includes grilled onions and green peppers, mayo, lettuce, tomato, and crushed red peppers. No matter what toppings you prefer, be sure to try the crushed red peppers!

 So these are a few of my faves from my personal Taste of Home Tour. What delicious treats do you enjoy when you return to your hometown?

I'm Back!

Hi everyone! I'm finally back from vacation. It's been a fantastic three weeks - and some away time I've not only needed, but most definitely enjoyed.

As a mom of a son with autism, there were some moments I worried how my son would react to being out of his routine and away from home for such an extended period of time. While there were definitely a few days he had a difficult time, I was super impressed that for the majority of the trip, he did a fabulous job! It took some extra patience, firm instructions and guidelines from Mom, but it all worked out surprisingly well. In fact, it went so well, I'm actually looking forward to another trip next summer!

I already posted about our Oklahoma trip. Over the next week, I will post some fun spotlights about our Pennsylvania trip and catch up on some book reviews. I had planned to post updates while I was in PA, but I didn't have much time to get to a computer that had internet access.

Aside from catching up with everything that's happened in blogland, I am getting ready for my two sons' birthday parties this weekend, preparing the final details for the munchkins to go back to school on Monday (woot!), and making plans for my upcoming wedding anniversary. Of course, I'm sliding all of that in between some freelance editing, my own writing, and a few house projects. Vacation is sincerely the only time life slows down around here!

So, what are y'all doing to get ready for school? And when do your munchkins go back? I'm excited to check out everyone's blogs and see what all has happened this past month!

A Little Trip

Today, I'm on my way to Utah. I'm flying out to attend my friend, Heather Justesen's book launch. (More info here!) While I'm there, I'll even get to meet with my publisher! Wohoo!

While I'm out of town, you may want to check out the new information posted for the upcoming LDStorymakers Conference (April 2010). They have some MAJOR authors coming to teach classes - Brandon Sanderson, Jessica Day George, David Wolverton (aka David Farland), Rick Walton, James Dashner, and more!!! This is the BEST writers conference I have ever attended and it most definitely worth putting on your calendar. Be sure to sign up as soon as registration opens. This awesome conference fills up FAST!

Have a fabulous weekend & I'll update you on my trip when I get back!

LDS Storymakers Writers Conference, 2nd Annual Whitney Awards, and a House Full of Friends

This past weekend, my hubby and I attended the annual LDS Storymakers Writers Conference in Provo, Utah. And let me tell you all - IT WAS AWESOME!!!

I had an incredible time with my writers friends, meeting with editors from various publishing companies and even from the Ensign magazine. The Storymakers conference is my all-time, absolute FAVORITE writers conference I attend each year. I've been to several different workshops and conferences, and have never been to one as awesome as this one. Thanks so much to all the Storymakers!

John and I attended Boot Camp again this year. What's that? Well, basically it's when all the Storymakers torture us because of our poor writing. Just kidding! It's an optional section of conference that fills up really fast. Friday and Saturday morning, some of the conference attendees got up super early to attend a special "mini-conferece" with published authors and get more one-on-one critiques to improve our writing skills in many areas - characterization, dialogue, and exposition to name a few. I joined the Non-Fiction table this year, which was led by C.S. Bezas. She was an incredible instructor! Wow. I learned so much from her and the other writers at my table. Thank you, Cindy! I can't wait for next year. I hope you'll host the non-fiction table again!

Some pretty exciting stuff happened at conference this year. Like I said, I met with some editors. Heather Justesen and I pitched our new non-fiction book, Lost: One Sheep to Lisa Mangum at Deseret Book. She really liked the advance chapter and outlines we sent her. She gave us some great feedback on structure so it's not so overwhelming for the reader. Lost: One Sheep is about service and how it leads to missionary opportunites.

I also chatted with Kirk Shaw from Covenant Communications, which is the publisher who currently has Teaching Special Spirits. So far, everything is looking great in that area. TSS is out to readers for evalution. I enjoyed chatting with Kirk and now he has a face to take back with him to put with the TSS project.

The other exciting thing happened during the Storymakers First Chapter contest. I submitted four chapters into the contest . . . and two of them won! Lost: One Sheep won 1st place in the Non-Fiction category and Take Back the Night won 2nd place in the Women's Fiction category. It was so awesome, exciting, overwhelming, and completely humbling. All I can say is wow.

Each year, the Storymakers entertain us. This year, they really went the extra mile with an awesome video. Totally fun stuff!



And now - for some Storymakers Conference photos . . .

Danyelle & Heather Justesen catching up on gossip while relaxing in their hotel room. Notice the totally cute Tinkerbell skin on Heather's computer. I want one too!

Danyelle and Haley Freeman Hatch, author of A Future for Tomorrow. I love Haley's book. It gives such hope for those who have or are struggling with anorexia.

Dude - my babysitter was at the conference!!! She came all the way from Kansas! This is Kaitlyn - she's 16 and an incredible aspiring writer. You go, girl!

Ah yes - a picture of me and my hubby. It's funny, but I don't think
we've ever actually come home with pics of just the two of us. It's kind of nice.
Notice the stubble ladies? He hasn't been able to shave since the accident. He's kept it trimmed,
but he can't shave it all off. And let me tell you - I'm really liking the new look. Very sexy.

Dean Lorey and John. My hubby was really excited to meet Dean, who is an author and screenwriter. He wrote My Boyfriend's Back (Disney), Friday the 13th: Part 9, Happy Gilmore, and some other big movies I forget now. He's also the author of the Nightmare Academy series. Dean sat with us during lunch and John picked his brain. I hope you find it again, Dean. Seriously, Dean's a really nice guy - even if he did write a Freddie Krugar movie. :)

Friends from Oz - John, Danyelle, Kaitlyn, and Keisha. If you can't tell, Kaitlyn and Keisha are related. They look like sisters, but are actually mother and daughter - and both are writers! It was awesome to have them come for the Storymakers conference!

Who in the world is that crazy bunch of wackos?
Oh yeah! That's my AuthorsIncognito group! Man, I just love these guys . . . and this is just a small representation of our group!

Danyelle & Tristi Pinkston, author of Nothing to Regret, Strength to Endure, and Season of Sacrifice. Tristi is an awesome friend, but I must say I was quite disappointed when she didn't dress up this year. Although, I must admit her contest entry about Stella and Tedward went a long way to making up for her lack of disguise. On a more serious note, Tristi is one of my biggest supporters. She has talked me through many rough writing patches. I know I would not have finished Teaching Special Spirits without her support. Love you, Tristi!

Two totally cute chicks! Danyelle & Heather Justesen.
We just had to show off our first place certificates for our chapter from Lost: One Sheep. Are we awesome, or what? Heather has a book coming out this October. Just in time for Christmas, everyone!

This year, John and I also attended the Whitney Awards Gala. We had a great time and got to sit with some pretty awesome authors - Jessica Day George, Brandon Sanderson, and Greg Luke. Very cool stuff - and a HUGE thank you to Kerry Blair for being so awesome and sitting us at their table. Here are some fun pics from the evening . . .

You can't quite tell from this picture, but the person across from James Dashner (the announcer) is J. Scott Savage dressed up as Stephenie Meyer (who didn't show up for the Gala) to announce the winner for Best Speculative Fiction.

Heather Justesen and Danyelle

Danyelle and Gregg Luke, author of Do No Harm.
I had a great time talking with Gregg during the Whitney Award dinner. He's a super nice guy. I'm really excited to read his medical thriller!

John and Brandon Sanderson, author of the Mistborn series, the Alcatraz series, and the totally cool person who gets to finish THE Robert Jordan's final novel.

The Bodacious Babes!
Julie Wright, Crystal Liechty, Danyelle, and Jessica Day George.
Congrats to Julie on landing Jessica Day George's totally awesome agent. And congrats to Crystal on finding out she's having a beautiful baby girl! Jessica - it was awesome to meet you!

Danyelle and the awesome Kerry Blair, author of way too many books to write here!
Although my very favorites are her Heart/Baseball series. Love them!!!

Danyelle, John, and James Dashner, author of the award winning 13th Reality series.

Danyelle, Michele Ashman Bell, and Josi Kilpack.
Can I just say, five years ago when I attended my first Storymakers conference, I was TOTALLY star-struck and nervous to meet Michele and Josi. I had admired their writing and read their books over and over and over and over. But I soon discovered they are both the most generous and supportive women I've ever met. What a blessing they've both been to my life and writing!

And this, my friends, is the stack of books being shipped back to my house. Some of these books are for contest prizes on my blogs. Hee hee!

Sunday, my friend Robin opened her house to my friends. John, Isaac, and I had an awesome afternoon & evening visiting with everyone who stopped by. Thanks so much for coming everyone. Of course, I totally forgot to get my camera out until the end - so I missed lots of photo opportunities, but here are a few pics from later in the evening.

Isaac & Alayna

Alayna and her Daddy, Ben.
Look how huge that bear is! It's almost as big as Alayna!

Kimmy, Robin, & Danyelle

Danyelle, Isaac, and John with Dana & Jared Wise

Two totally goofy guys with laundry baskets on their heads.
Michael & John

Robin & Danyelle, crashed on the bed & laughing at the guys!

This was one of the most awesome parts of the night.
Dan Marrott is the missionary who, with Elder Jeff Beard, taught me the first discussion.
Dan was also the one to baptize me many months after the first discussion.
Here we are - 15 years and three months later. It was great to catch up with him and introduce him to my hubby.

The next morning, we hopped on a plane and headed back to Kansas City. Rob & Anna were sooooo excited to see Mama and Daddy!

John's taking the picture and Anna wouldn't take her eyes off me to look at the camera!
We were smothered with hugs and kisses for the rest of the day. It was awesome!

Our trip was fabulous, awesome, incredible . . . .truly, there's no one word good enough to describe it. Being home with my family is equally wonderful. I hope that next year, we'll be able to take the whole family out like we did two years ago for a long family visit. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Are You Ready for This?

I'm back from my jaunt to Utah. I had a fantastic time. I have lots of photos and memories to share. Get ready for another super long post! :)

First stop . . . I arrived in Salt Lake City on Wednesday evening. Since Devon's wedding was Thursday morning at the Salt Lake Temple, I made arrangements to stay with my fabulous friend, Robin, and her family.

Thursday, the day of the wedding, also happened to be her son Austin's birthday. Austin was born exactly one month after my son, Isaac. I still remember pushing Isaac in a stroller up to the NICU to see Austin the day he was born. Happy Birthday, Austin!


This is Austin digging into the present I got for him.


And here it is! It's a Pokemon stuffed animal. Austin has started collecting them - he's a HUGE Pokemon fan. This one looks like a Duck-billed Platypus to me - but Austin loved it!


The boys getting ready to leave for school - Austin, me, & Jake.


I had to pull Robin away from slaving in the kitchen for this one. :) Robin, me, & the boys.

Randy (Robin's cool hubby) took the boys to school. Very soon after, Evan finally decided to wake up. Yeah! Evan is awesome and he just cracks me up. I also just love his hugs. He ranks up with my son Rob for best hugs ever.


Isn't Evan just a cutie pie? And see all those gorgeous curls? He has the thickest hair with just gorgeous curled waves. But just wait - there's a story about those curls . . .

So, after I finished breakfast, I jumped into the shower to get ready for Devon's wedding. As I'm getting out of the shower, I can hear Evan screaming and Robin saying, "Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh." So, I wrapped up in a nice big towel and headed into her room to see what was up.

Apparently, Robin decided to trim Evan's hair. Evan must not have been too happy about that, cause he wasn't co-operating. In Robin's fluster-ment, she forgot to put the shield on the clippers . . . and you can guess what happened next. Yep. One very, very bald strip, right up the back of Evan's head.

Robin turned to me and said, "I don't know what to do. Help!"

I checked out Evan's head a bit, then turned to Robin and said, "You have two options. You can leave his hair like this and he can look like a dork or we can buzz it all off."

Every mother out there can just imagine the look of shock on Robin's face. She decided to go for the buzz job, but couldn't stand the thought of cutting off all those curls. So, I took charge of the clippers. I popped on a #2 shield, then Operation Off with the Curls began. Robin held Evan during the whole process.

The results:


Evan, finally calmed down & playing a game at the computer.


The proof that it wasn't my fault. I'm still waiting for angry emails from Robin's mom. :)

Next stop, the Salt Lake Temple.



It was a scramble to find parking downtown. I didn't realize they tore down ZCMI and the other mall that was across the street from it. The other parking lot I used to use when I was going to LDSBC was gone too - a new building was sitting in its place. Hmm . . . after getting directions from some sister missionaries, I finally found a parking spot and entered the temple.

Now, some of you may be wondering who Devon is. Devon is the daughter of some of our very good friends, Kevin & Pam Banta. We met Kevin & Pam about a month after John & I got married. My friend, Kim Nelson, introduced us. We've been good friends ever since. When I first met Devon, she was 11 years old. As a teenager, she babysat for us for almost four years - every Thursday! When she turned 16 and got a "real" job, her sister Chantell took over babysitting for our weekly date nights.

Not only was I friends with Kevin & Pam, but I became really close to Chan & Dev. We would get together for Girls Nights Out - we even had a sleep-over at my house once. We munched and stayed up super late watching chick flicks. We'd get together for family BBQ's, turn up the radio, & dance. Wow - so many fun memories.

So, when Devon emailed to ask me to attend her wedding, I was all for it! She married a wonderful, quiet guy named Sean Mylinski. I really enjoyed watching them together. Their sealing was beautiful and the spirit in attendance was sweet. I used up plenty of tissues, too.

After the wedding, waiting for the bride to come out for pictures . . .


Kevin Banta, his daughter Nattely, and her daughter Alayna.


Sisters Forever - Becca & Chantell.


Ooh Yuck! Chantell giving her "little" brother, Jared, a great big smooch!


Ashlyn Banta. I met Ashlyn when she was about 1 year old!!!


Rachel with her sister Nattely and cousin Alayna.


Mr. Stud - Zack Banta.


Where's my skateboard? I just know that's what he was thinking! Mike Banta


Mr. & Mrs. Sean Mylinski!


Becca stood in awe of her beautiful sister and handsome husband.


Devon & Sean, walking together on temple grounds.


The Banta Family - Yes, they're all brothers and sisters - except for Sean (the groom), Nattely's hubby (Ben) & Nattely's baby girl.


The Banta's & They Mylinski's: Kevin, Pam, Devon, & Sean.

During part of the wedding pictures, I went with Kevin & all the kids to JB's for ice cream. It was a great way to keep us all occupied while the photographer finished up all the wedding pictures. On the way to JB's, what did I see? The brand new Deseret Book Company Building!!!



I stopped everyone and said, "That's where my manuscript is! Wait! I have to take pictures!!!" Of course, I jokingly said that we should all pray for my manuscript while we were there, too. ;-)

When we finished our ice cream, I took Rachel, Becca, Ashlyn, and Chantell back to Cedar Hills. Chan went to help Devon get ready for the reception, while I went back to the Banta's house to help the younger girls do their hair for the reception pictures.

At the reception:


Pam, Devon, & Becca.


My good friend Kim holding Alayna. I met Kim about a year after I joined the LDS Church. I met her at the Penn State University - Nittany Singles Branch. We've been good friends for 14 years now! She's also the person who introduced John & I to the Banta's.


Caleb & Becca

We discovered the icing on the eclairs turned our tongues pink . . .


Ashlyn


Rachel


Becca


Me & the guys: Mike, Jared, & Caleb.

I left the reception around 7:30 pm, so I could drive down to Orem and attend my monthly Friends of GIANT Steps board meeting. Since moving to Kansas, I've attended the meetings over the phone. I love it when my trips to Utah co-incide with a meeting. I have to say, I am so impressed with our board members. This past year, they have done some incredible things - putting together our first annual auction which was a HUGE success. Right now, they're planning a winter benefit concert. I'm looking forward to working with our new president and board members this year, too.

Let's fast forward a bit: Friday

Friday morning, I discovered I still had Rachel & Becca's car seats in my car. Silly me! I dropped those off to Pam, then went to the Mt. Timpanogas Temple.



This is where John and I were married. I love coming back and performing temple work here. It was really fun Friday morning seeing all the brides in and out of the temple.

After my morning at the temple, I was invited to have lunch at Tristi's house with Tristi Pinkston (of course) and my fabulous friend, Heather Justesen. I was so excited to see them, I was all teary eyed when Tristi opened the door. She thought something had happened and I was sad. But I wasn't. I was just so very happy to be in the company of good friends, who I sincerely miss between my visits to Utah.


The Writin' Chicks: Danyelle, Heather, & Tristi (along with Tristi's son).

I felt doubly blessed that the members of Tristi & Heather's critique group took time out of their schedules, away from work and family, to come to an early meeting so we could spend some time visiting, too. Keith, Kim, & Nichole - you guys rock! Thank you!


Keith and His Bodacious Babes:
L to R: Tristi, Heather, Danyelle, Keith, Kim, & Nichole.


Wahoo - Check out that smackeroo! Poor Keith, I really embarrassed him. He asked me to tell my hubby the kiss didn't mean anything. :)

My old college roomie, Miss Amy Marble, met me at Tristi's house. Amy came with me to the last Storymaker's Conference, so she knew several of the people at Tristi's house, too. About 4:30 pm, Amy and I took off for dinner, then spent the evening watching Bride & Prejudice and sewing. We made this totally cute purse and wallet.


The purse pattern was by Lazy Girl Designs.

Amy - a sewing and design queen - helped me follow the directions and simplify the project, as I'm sewing-challenged. But I did actually sew all of the parts together for both the purse and wallet. Aren't they totally cute?


The finished purse & wallet.

I actually spent both Thursday and Friday nights at Amy's house. Saturday morning, I was treated to homemade, whole wheat waffles and real maple syrup. Yummy, yummy, yum. After breakfast, I got packed up for my flight later that day. Amy and I had a great time visiting. Spending time with Amy, relaxing, chatting, and sewing, was the perfect way to end my trip.


Two Chicks of a Kind: Danyelle & Amy

On my way to Salt Lake, I stopped at the Distribution Center and Deseret Book to stock up on some books and other things we needed. While the flights to Utah were all smooth, the flights back to Kansas were super bumpy and made me a bit sick. The one good thing about flying though, is I got to watch a few movies (Sense & Sensibility and Return to Me) and I finished A Future for Tomorrow by Haley Hatch Freeman, which I'll be reviewing during her blog tour.

I had lots and lots and lots of friends I didn't get to see on this trip. I wish I would have had more time. I'll be out again for the Storymakers conference in April. I hope to get to see more of you then! I just want to say a huge thank you to Devon for inviting me to her wedding. I absolutely enjoyed it. Another huge thanks to my awesome hubby, who so willingly stayed behind to have fun with the kids. And thank you, thank you to all my friends I did get a chance to see.

And to everyone reading this - I hope you have a wonderful, fabulous day!