There is only three days left in my contest! Be sure to enter for an autographed copy of Miss Match by sending me an email with “Contest” in the subject line. My email is erynnmangum@gmail.com. Also, you can get autographed books anytime by ordering off my website! It’s cheaper than buying retail and it’s also personally autographed to you! Kody apparently heard me and Jon discussing our summer traveling plans because I’ve found him playing with two different duffel bags that he pulled out from under the bed. Someone is ready to go see our relatives! I cannot wait to introduce you to Maya! Keep checking my wesbite, I’ll post a preview to her story soon!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine’s/President’s Day weekend! Mine was awesome – we drove up to Colorado Springs and spent the weekend with some very sweet friends of ours. The boys went snowboarding, the girls went shopping ($3 shirts! Yay!) and we ate lots and lots of AMAZING desserts. Pretty much it was one of the best weekends ever. So, being used to having a dessert every night over the weekend, I had to come home and make a huge batch of chocolate chip cookies. You can’t have chocolate every night and not get somewhat addicted to that warm fuzzy feeling deep in your heart. How’s that saying go? A cookie a day keeps depression away? Something like that…

Jon and I have been reading through 1 Corinthians before we turn the light out at night and I was struck by something in chapter 3. It says: “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.” Think about that! You are so precious to God that if anyone messes with you, God will destroy them. On the flip side, though, if you mess with yourself you’re in trouble. Earlier in the chapter, he talks about there being jealousy and strife among them. (I have never used the word “strife” in a sentence, but that will now be my goal for today). It’s a good reminder to pay attention to what we’re doing with ourselves – especially that time of the month when PMS is raging (don’t you HATE that?!).

Yesterday, Kody bit the tail off of Mr. Dinosaur sending the happy little green guy to the big Jurassic Park in the sky. Which left his toy count at two – one rawhide bone and a plastic newspaper thing. A little less than the twenty he started out with. We’ve sent chickens to the big Chicken Coop in the sky, hedgehogs to the big Forest in the sky, and bouncy balls to the big Tennis Court in the sky. So, I realized that if we didn’t give him something to work those little almost-adult teeth on, he was going to tear apart my house. And yes, he ripped two towels in his crate to shreds before I realized this. I’m not the brightest sometimes. So, after Jon got home, we loaded our little monster into the car and drove him to Petsmart, where he slipped and slid across the tile floor trying to meet all the cute girls in the place (I’m dead serious. Kody loves girls!). We found the toy aisle and he proceeded to sit there staring at us while we tried to ask him what toys he wanted. So frustrating. I think he was showing off for this really cute little ten year-old girl. Sort of like, “Toys? I am so much more mature than toys now. Sheesh.” Once we got back in the house with his two new toys, though, he couldn’t put them down. He’s been playing with them ever since. Dorky dog. He’s actually a very good dog, despite the hard time I give him. He has yet to chew anything important in the house (the towels were his), and he’s very good about asking to go outside. He plays by himself very nicely while I’m writing. The only issue we’ve had is digging, and that’s only on occasion. I’m putting up a few pics of the weekend. What did you do with the AMAZING three-day weekend? 
Kody’s Happy Face
The Girls in Colorado Springs
The Whole Gang (minus Brian’s fiance Becca)

Hey everyone! Hope you are all having an amazing Monday! I have an update on the Maya Davis series. Because of some financial issues due to the economy, Cool Beans will actually be releasing in April instead of this fall. But, that’s the perfect time for some summer reading, because Book 2 in that series (currently untitled) will release right afterward in July! I hope you all enjoy this upcoming series! I’m very excited about it! In the meantime, I’m going to be working on a new series idea about a group of newlyweds. I’ll keep you all posted on that! Things have been a little hectic here – and on top of that, Jon got sick and now I’m sniffling. Not fun! But in the midst of swabbing with Zicam and popping Sudafed (yuck, yuck, yuck), we’re doing pretty good! Kody is growing like a marshmallow in the microwave and starting to get way more vocal. Only he doesn’t bark very often, it’s more like a groaning/howling/whining sound. Very odd. Also….drumroll please…I’m starting a new contest! Send me an email at erynnmangum@gmail.com with “Contest” as the subject title and you’ll get the chance to win a signed copy of Miss Match! I’ll draw the winner on March 1st. Be sure to check out my website – for a limited time, you can order an Autographed Copy of any book in the Lauren Holbrook series. Prices and such are listed on my website. Today is kind of a cloudy, gray, dryer lint day and I wouldn’t mind it so much if there was even the vaguest chance we would get snow. But, it’s too warm and so this is like the weather is mocking us. To all of you in the midst of snowstorms, go out there and make a snowman for me please!