Book Club & Giveaway! * Comfort Food * Enter to Win a Copy

For the month of July we will be reading Kate Jacob's newest book Comfort Food. Comfort Food is about Gus Simpson a Cooking Show host who is about to turn 50. She is a windowed mother of two girls and strong confident women who has worked hard and loves what she does but all this is has a twist. As in The Friday Night Knitting Club Kate Jacob's puts together a group of many layered characters. As you read this month you can check out Kate's reading guide here and a faux Cooking Channel website here complete with recipes.This month we are doing something a little different for the Book Club. We are giving away a copy of Comfort Food our book club read of the month. Please send in your favorite comfort food recipe along with a photo and we might just share it!

{ To Enter Win the book Comfort Food }

~ Send me an email with Comfort Food as the subject to sweetlifeinthevalley@gmail.com

~ Answer the question of the week: What is your Comfort Food? We would love it if you sent in a recipe and photo of it too...

~ Include your name & address-open to anyone is the U.S

~ You have until midnight Monday July 14th enter this giveaway NOTE: giveaway runs for two weeks!!!

~ Don't forget to *get extra entries !

1} Refer someone & get an extra entry! We want to spread the word about Sweet Life in the Valley so if you refer someone to our giveaway & they enter you get an extra entry.1. Send the names of the people you referred with your entry2.They enter you get an extra entry for each person who enters

2} Write about our giveaway on your blog myspace or other place online send me a link to your post and get an extra entry

3} Add a link on your blogroll myspace etc and get an extra entry (if you are linked to us you get an extra entry in every giveaway -be sure to let me know you added it)

Book Club & Other Stuff * Twenty Wishes

I never had a chance to tell everyone about our Book Club read for the month of June. Twenty Wishes is fun book about a group of windowed women of all ages. Out of a get together the concept of writing down Twenty Wishes becomes the theme of their lives. I have written down a few wishes of my own but I am not yet to twenty. One of my wishes is to lay on my back on the cobble stone streets in Boston and look up at the city and take in the history that happened there as I think about what had happened right in that spot and who could have walked right were I am laying.

I would love to hear some of your wishes and it would be great if you all started a Twenty Wishes list of your own. Feel free to share I would love to hear some of your wishes. Dream big and have fun! Read the book you will like it. You can post your wish on the comments or email them to me at sweetlifeinthevalley@gmail.com

Click here to see Debbie Macomber's website. Debbie is also doing a readers contest click here to see the prize and how to enter.

From Our Book Shelf * It's Raining It's Pouring

When I woke up this morning I looked out the window and the first thing that came to my mind is the classic nursery rhyme song ...it's raining it's pouring the old man is snoring... As you can guess it is raining at my house. Time to get out your wellies & rain jacket and jump in some puddles. When my children were younger I found this sweet version of the song It's Raining It's Pouring in a book by Kin Eagle -illustrated by Rob Gilbert. It is filled with colorful watercolor illustrations. This book also includes the music to the song on the last pages. Children love rhyming and this book in it's rhyme adds some fun to an old classic. It is a perfect rainy day read.

Book Club* June 2008

I have finally decided on our read for the month of June. Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber. More to come later today with our discussion on last month's read Wednesday Letters and more info about Twenty Wishes.

Books to Read * Tween * Eleven Twelve & Thirteen

It is hard to find a good tween book. They are either littered with inappropriate topics or too young subject wise. Lauren Myracle has written some great tween books that are perfect for your 11, 12 or 13 year old girl to relate to. Everything from buying your first bra to your first make-up. The first in the set is Eleven where you are introduced to Winnie a sweet tween girl. In Twelve Winnie starts junior high. Thirteen Winnie is finally a teenager. It is now out and my daughter has it on her list of books to buy. Maybe we will have to stop by Borders tonight and see if they have it in. Lauren Myracle has a Blog and a Website where you can check out her books, events and other stuff.

Books to Read * The Relatives Came

{The Relatives Came* From Our Book Shelf}

The Relatives Came is a book close to my heart. It is so similar to the summer vacations my family took every year. We would drive in our station wagon across country to visit my Grandparents on their farm here in Utah. We would eat baloney sandwiches on the way which my sister and I cannot stand now because we ate so many on our trips. When we would arrive our cousins from across the country would be there too. We would spend our days playing out a Grandpa's park and canoeing in the irrigation flooded fields and in the evenings help Grandpa get the milk cow and milk her. For dinner we would eat fresh veggies from the garden. My Grandma is the world's greatest cook. At night we would sleep on the couch and spread all over the floor so there was hardly a way to walk through the house. It was an ideal dream land for a child's summer vacation. In The Relatives Came Cynthia Rylant relates a similar story. I bought my sisters each a copy to share with their children and they laughed when they read the part about the sandwiches. It is a sweet story of family. Enjoy!

Book Club * Friday Night Knitting Club

NOTE: We have extended this book into April and will meet to discuss on April 30th. If you have any question please contact me at sweetlifeinthevalley@gmail.com

Next month{May}we will be reading The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright happy reading everyone!

{Sweet Life in the Valley Book Club ~ March 2008}

Welcome to the first monthly meeting of the Sweet Life in the Valley Book Club. At the beginning of each month we will be selecting a book to read. Suggestions are welcome from everyone on the next book to read. The last Monday of the month we will have a comment meeting to talk about the book of the month & announce the book for the next month. Everyone is welcome to read the book of the month and chat about what they think of the book. This month we will be reading The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. With learning to knit as one of my new years resolutions this title caught me eye when I was looking through Borders Books. Here is a quote from Kate herself about the book, " My goal for the novel was to provide the reader with a bit of a respite by sharing the imaginary world of Walker and Daughter, a cozy knitting shop nestled in New York City's bustling Upper West Side. It is here that readers can put aside their cares, enjoying the company of single mom and store owner Georgia Walker, her young daughter Dakota, their grandmotherly friend Anita, and the handful of smart, funny, tough women who comprise The Friday Night Knitting Club." Kate has a website & a blog. She also has another book coming out this week on the 6th called Comfort Food. We may just read this new book in a coming month.

{Sweet Life in the Valley Book Club}

~ Send me an email to sweetlifeinthevalley@gmail.com with Book Club as the subject if you are reading along -it is nice to see how many are interested in The Book Club

~Read our book of the month The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs

~Visit on Monday March 31st to comment on the book and get the title for our April read. Even if you have not finished the book please join us for the Book Club comment day.

~Tell your friends & family about the Sweet Life in the Valley Book Club the more the merrier!

~Kate's Reader's Guide for The Friday Night Knitting Club Click Here. This is a great place to get ideas on comments to make at the comment meeting. Caution do not read this page until you are finished with the book.

P.S. I forgot to mention that The Friday Night Knitting Club is going to be made into a movie! What exciting news for Kate.

Books to Read * ME Mother Goose

{From Our Book Shelf * Mary Engelbreit's Mother Goose Rhymes}

Every child should have a book of Mother Goose Rhymes. When I was a young girl Mrs. Hall an older lady at our church who was like our Grandma gave our family a huge book of nursery rhymes. I remember sitting for hours reading it and trying to memorize them. I loved looking at the pictures and imagining myself in the little rhyme scenes. A couple of days ago my 12 yrld daughter was sitting in front of the children's bookshelf reading our copy of Mary Engelbreit's version of the one hundred best loved Mother Goose verses. I love the details she puts into the illustrations. It would be a wonderful baby shower, birthday or Christmas gift.

Books to Read * Jamberry

{From Our Book Shelf * Jamberry}

Another favorite book from our family bookshelf is Jamberry by Bruce Degen. At this end of this wonderful rhyming book Bruce tells a little story of his memories of picking berries with his grandparents. I too remember as a child going with my Grandma & Grandpa Bohman to pick wild chokecherries along the foothills in Peterson to make chokecherry jam. Your children are going to love this sweet rhythmic story of a boy & his berries. "Under the bridge and over the dam looking for berries berries for jam." Happy reading!
April

Other Stuff * Books to Read ~ to-do list

{to-do list}
I came across this blog and had to share it with everyone. It is called to-do list. It is a fascinating look into people's to-do lists. My grandfather passed away this past July & when I was helping my Grandma I came across a note book in my Grandpa's drawer. It held a treasure of information & revealed a side of Grandpa I never knew. I am a big list maker. I do not keep a journal and have often wondered how my kids & future generations would know who I was... and I thought about all my note books with all my lists and notes about everything from design ideas to shopping lists to quotes I like. This is how my children will see into my soul. They will find my note books and read them and know who I am. Sasha Cagen the magazine & blog author now has a book out as well.
April

Books to Read ~ Children's Christmas Edition

{Children's Christmas Edition}

1. New! The Holly Joliday by Megan McDonald, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
Stink wishes for snow for Christmas. Another fun & funny tale including Junie B. & Stink than you can curl up on a snowy afternoon and read with your kids.

2. New! Olivia Helps with Christmas by Ian Falconer, illustrated by Ian Falconer
Olivia get a special job to “watch” for santa. Young children will relate to Olivia & waiting for Christmas morning.

3. Christmas Is Coming! by Claire Masurel, illustrated by Marie H. Henry
Juliette and her stuffed animal friends get ready for Christmas. Fun board book about the fun things we do at Christmas time.

4. Last Holiday Concert by Andrew Clements
This is a story about fifth grader Hart Evans and his adventures in being left in charge of the school Holiday Concert. Great read for your middle schooler.




Classics to have for your Christmas Collection:

*Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson, illustrated by Judith Gwyn Brown
*How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss
*Mary Engelbreit's The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore, illustrated by Mary Engelbreit
*A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Charles Dickens, illustrated by P. J. Lynch
*Frosty the Snowman by Steve Nelson, illustrated by Jack Rollins

Tip:
can be purchased locally at
~ Borders Books Provo
~Barnes & Noble Orem
or at Amazon:




✄ ✄ Don't forget to enter our Fun Free Fridays Giveaway for a Free Hair Cut from Metropolatian Salon .You have until Thursday- 11:59PM MST ✄ ✄

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Books to Read ~ The Dangerous Book for Boys & The Daring Book for Girls

The Dangerous Book for Boys is a wonderful book for boys by brothers Gonn & Hal Iggulden. They cover everything from paper airplanes, to fishing ,to building go-carts, to books to read, magic tricks, & even grammar. Get one for your boy. They will spend hours looking at it getting great ideas and learning the whole time. Now there is also The Daring Book for Girls by Miriam Peskowitz & Andrea J. Buchanan. In this fun book for girls it covers karate moves, chinese jump rope, friendship bracelets, hand clap games, public speaking and on and on. Girls now have a book to learn all sorts of things. These books are the kind that your girl or boy can sit down to on a weekend afternoon and be completely entertained with out electronics! Great idea for Christmas.
April

Tips:
Can be purchased locally at
Borders Books Provo
Barnes and Noble Orem
or on Amazon:

Books to Read ~ Parenting Books

I was over at Borders Books, my third place, looking through some magazines and looking for some fun new Christmas books for our collection and I couldn’t help noticing a stream of people being ushered to the parenting books. Since we are expecting 3 babies in our family over the next 6 months and we just added one in August I thought I would talk about a few parenting books of interest. These are a few of my favorites. This review is dedicated to all the soon to be parents, parents and grandparents. First the What to Expect series by, Heidi Murkoff Arlene Eisenberg & Sandee Hathaway is wonderful. What to Expect When Your Expecting gives you everything from what your baby looks like in the womb month to month to what to expect at your doctors visit. What to Expect the First Year helps you through the mile stones of the first year from rolling over to what and when to feed your baby. What to expect the Toddler Years goes through month by month on the development and concerns of your growing toddler. I just wish they continued the series on all the way to 18. Maybe in the future. Lets cross our fingers! For those of us with the child over the toddler years the Love and Logic series by Jim Fay is a good start. There is a Love and Logic general book, & for the early years, teens, teachers, and grandparenting. All of these books are good to have on hand. Good luck on your parenting. I always felt my worst day with my children is better than the best day with out them. Your depth of love will increase beyond measure & you will become someone you never knew you could be. In the words of Corinne Bailey Rae, “Just like a star across my sky just... like an angel off the page you have appeared to my life...”
April


Tips:
What to Expect has a website www.whattoexpect.com

Buy these books-
Border Book Provo Riverwoods Mall
Barnes & Noble Orem
Walmart- has the what to expect series
or on Amazon:

Books to Read ~ Children's Pick

At my house we have a book shelf dedicated to children’s books. We are currently in need of a new shelf because our collection is now spilling all over the room. I would like to tell you about some of my favorites. This week I am starting with a charming book “Sometimes I like to Curl Up in a Ball” written by Vicki Churchill and illustrated by Charles Fuge. Both the writing and the illustrations are outstanding. The character relates to the life of a child in a lyrical rhythmic pace making an enjoyable read for both child and parent. My older kids even pull it out every now and then because the illustrations are so great. A lovely bedtime must have!
“Some times I like to curl up in a ball, so no one can see me because I’m so small.”

Tips:
~You can order it at Borders Books (Provo)
~Barnes & Noble (Orem) currently has 3 copies available
~You can also order it from amazon