Need help with database querys

[eluser]Unknown[/eluser]
I want to show the username in a blogpost. The username and the blogpost are in different tables. This is my old solution:
1.
$sql = “SELECT * FROM blogs WHERE entry_id = $_GET['entry_id']";
$data = mysqli_query($db, $sql);
$row= mysqli_fetch_array($data);
echo $row[‘user_id’];

2.
// Username
$sql2 = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE user_id = $row[‘user_id’]";
$data2 = mysqli_query($db, $sql2);
$row2 = mysqli_fetch_array($data2);
echo $row[‘username’];

Is there a nicer solution with codeigniter? I would prefer to use model and controller. I hope anyone can help me

[eluser]Twisted1919[/eluser]

Code:

//model function:
function get_entry($entry_id){
$sql='SELECT b.*,u.* FROM blogs b INNER JOIN users u ON u.user_id=b.user_id
WHERE b.entry_id=?';
$query=$this->db->query($sql,array($entry_id));
return $query->num_rows() > 0 ? $query->row() : NULL ;
}


//controller
if($entry = $this->model_name->get_entry(123))
{
   echo $entry->username;
}

[eluser]Unknown[/eluser]
Big thanks!! everything works great.