Not that anyone ACTUALLY cares...

But there are several (never-been-seen :) short video clips on our other blog. They're NOT interesting enough to put on this blog (as if I have a worthy meter or something) but either way, they are over there.. just in case some of you happen to have a free minute or two..

Here's the short list of things you'll miss if you decide not to check it out.

1. I captured a bit of our living room furniture in the background of the star wars clip. Don't get to excited, all you interior designers, out there. We still have nothing to brag about.

2. Three monkeys jumping on a hotel bed.

3. Zack in his super nerdy swimming goggles.

4. A crazy man chasing a wild pig at the horse ranch.

5. Somewhere in the mix of the bobble head video, you hear Ben say something to Luke about not squishing his WIENER... and then you'll hear me scold him for saying such things on camera. Off camera, anything is game. But hello-- doesn't he realize I have an IMAGE to uphold here?

ENTER at your own risk, I am not making any promises.

Love/Hate Relationships.

I haven't really been in the mood to blog the last couple of days, but I just wanted to put something up here to let everyone know that my husband have made up and we're NOT getting divorced. Phew! I try hard to hate him, but it never works! He is a great guy and he makes me laugh everyday. Today in church, while one of my good friends was speaking (Hi Nat! You did a great job!) Aaron leaned over in sweetly whispered in my ear, "If you ever leave me, I am totally going after her." Of course, I cracked up because-- it's so inappropriate and he's just so off the wall. I wished him luck and let him know that I would be cool with bringing her in as a Sister-wife if her husband ever died. I figure, there are already Mormon Polygamy rumors anyway, we might as well give 'em something to talk about.

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Another thing I have been meaning to document is the LOVE/HATE game we play with Zack. He's has known what these words mean for some time now and uses them in the right context. It's so funny what he says and how passionate he is about what he likes and doesn't like!

The other day when I was telling the boys a bedtime story and happened to be laying on Zack's all-time favorite truck pillow. He is a little obsessive about it, and even though I was in labor with him for 13 hours (and continue to keep him alive) he doesn't think I am worthy enough to lay on his beloved pillow. He said, "Don't lay MY truck pillow!" I love to see him so feisty so I teased him a little bit by saying, "But Zack, I LOVE your truck pillow." He was mad and yelled, "Mom HATES my truck pillow! You hate it, mom! You HATE it!" We all started laughing and so now he thinks it's funny to say he hates everything (especially dinner when he doesn't want to eat!!) And the past few weeks in church, when it's time to go to nursery to play with his friends, he looks at us and says, "But I HATE nursery! I hate those kids!" I know it doesn't do any good to laugh, but it sure is funny coming from such a little guy!

The boys (but especially Aaron) started playing the love/hate game with Zack. If you say something, no matter what it is, he will say the opposite.. and it's hilarious. I was able to get a quick video of him after church today, but it doesn't do Aaron's version justice. I will have to record that another time. This is my cute chocolate faced little boy, playing the love/hate game. My favorite part about the video is that I caught his EYEBROW RAISING on film... it's his new trademark when he says something that he thinks is funny..

And just so you know, it took me about 6 hours to upload this measly video on youtube. Our internet service is SO slow! But I can't complain because we're not paying for it. I wasn't here when the phone guy came to hook it up so we're using someone else's wireless connection, but it sucks. It never pays to steal anything.. (a lesson I only learned today.)

He loves me. He loves me not.

I recently told my seven year old son I loved him (I tend to do that every once in a while.)

Ben quickly said, "Mom! I already knew that you loved me!!"

I acted surprised, "How did you already know?"

He rolled his eyes and said,

"Because you've never said that you DIDN'T love me."

My husband thought Ben's comment was genius and said, "Now THAT's a man talking! If we tell you we love you, then we do. If there ever comes a time when we change our minds, then we'll be sure to let you know."

THIS is the very reason why I hate men. Why do they have to be so emotionally stable and secure with themselves? It makes us women look stupid. Women may be from Venus, but Men are heartless robots. All they need is food and sex. Just because we would like an occasional compliment doesn't make us needy and insecure! I may sound like I am MAD, but that's only because I am.

Last night before going to bed, I had a lighthearted conversation with my husband that went a little like this:

Me: So, I posted that old Ricks college elections video on my blog today.

Him: What video? What blog?

Me: The skit with the tarantula and the pie in my face.

Him: cool. (which means the same as, "let's end the conversation HERE.")

Me: I wrote about how much it meant to me that you came to the big showing.. and how I think that was probably the night that you fell in love with me.

Him: Are you sure that wasn't some other guy? I don't think I went. (he's dead serious, people.)

Me: Oh come on! You were crazy about me and wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Him: I don't remember anything about that night.

Me: You don't remember seeing that video, the one where the crowd screamed because a guy licked all the way up my face?

Him: Oh, maybe. Wasn't there a problem with the sound?

Me: No. Not if you mean when my speech was cut off by the U2 song (starting to get annoyed.)

Him: Maybe it wasn't the sound. I just think I didn't have a good seat for the show and couldn't see your skit very well.

Me: You were sitting right next to me, you big jerk!

Him: What?

Me: You have told me plenty of times that you fell in love with me during elections week.

Him: (shrugging) I guess I could have said that.

Me: UGH.

Him: What is wrong with you?

Me: Nothing was wrong with me until I started talking to you.

Him: What do you want me to say?

Me: Nothing. I will just pull out my old book of letters that you wrote me before you started hating me.

Him: [Laughing hysterically-- but at me, definitely not with me.]

Me: Just so you know, you're not getting any tonight.

Him: Do you want me to read our blog? Would that make you happy?

Me: No, and it's MY blog, not ours.

Him: [still laughing-- while I roll over and turn out the light.]

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Why are men so difficult to deal with? Seriously. I am not saying I am a fan of same sex marriages, but I bet they have a lot fewer headaches over communication issues. Or maybe it's just me.

Historical Day.

We'd like to announce that our Star Wars bobble head set is complete! C-3pO arrived in the mail yesterday and we finally have ALL 18. I realize that this is practically an impossible task, but when you work together as a family, you can accomplish ANYTHING, especially if it's really important! Priorities are priorities...

We'd like to thank all those who helped us reach our goal. To the hard workers at McDonald's who dug through their pile of Happy Meal toys to find those last few toys that we still needed. To the patient cars behind us in the drive-thru who never honked or flipped us off. To Rachel Simpson (and her kids) who gave us the Ewok when we so desperately needed him. And how can we ever forget Ebay? To the wonderful lady who sold us C-3PO for more than the price of a Happy Meal itself.. (what a business woman!) It only took her a WEEK to ship the measly envelope, all the way from Arizona. We couldn't have done it without you people! And last but not least, I'd like to say thanks to the man who didn't think we could do it-- who never had faith in us and who told us that it wasn't worth our time and money. We proved him wrong and it has never felt so good! *sticking my tongue out at my husband*

And here's my over-achievers posing behind their collection.. I found them this morning with all their bobble heads in ALPHABETICAL ORDER.. Apparently, it makes them so much easier to find if they're alphabetized.



I have a video of the boys doing their best impersonations of the characters (Zack knows everyone by name) but it's taking too long to upload and I have other important tasks to do today.. like folding laundry while watching yesterday's recorded Oprah. The Olympic team and their gold medals + American Idol David Cook. Better grab my box of Kleenex.

Q&A

While I was homeless/internet-less, I received quite a few emails asking all kinds of questions, mostly having to do with blogging. I sat down this afternoon to answer them individually, but decided to post just the answers for the world wide web to see.. just in case you were wondering too. Just scroll down to the question that applies to you..

1. How do you make your picture collages?

Most of my photo collages are made with a FREE, super user-friendly software called Photoscape. I am so happy to see that SO MANY people are using this program, because it's DA BOMB. It's simple and allows you do to lots of cool things with your pictures (cropping, borders, text, etc.) However, I must tell you that if you are going to create a collage, you really need to resize it after the pictures are in... If you ever plan on printing your blog into a book, these collages won't be large enough to print.. You will be really frustrated when uploading all your cute collages, but not being able to include them in your book. You will either have to create them again (and make them big so the quality is better) or you'll have to upload each of your pictures separately for the book-- either way, it's going to take you more time and work Plus, if you're shrinking 5-10 shots into one picture, the rest of us want to click on it and see it enlarged, like so.. (here's where you click on the picture to see it enlarged.)

This is HOW you make your collages bigger: In the PAGE option in Photoscape, on the top right hand corner, there is a SAVE and EDIT button, before you edit your collage (where you add text, etc.) click on the little walnut tab below the edit button-- this will give you the option to resize your entire collage and still keep the picture quality. I always do mine at 300% If you wait to resize it in the EDIT tab, it will stretch your pictures and change the quality.. Another tip is to make it large AFTER you've put the pictures in their place.. it makes them easier to maneuver (and to see if they are centered, etc.)

2. Do you think Picasa is user-friendly, why did you stop using it?

It's still a good program and I use it every once in a while. When you have a ton of photos and don't want to drag them in a collage seperately, it's great. For those of you who don't care about cutesy borders or text, Picasa is pretty self-explanitory. It's quick and does the work for you, for example:


3. Would you recommend Blurb to print your book?

Even though I had a huge headache with Blurb, I would most definitely do it again. I don't know of a better (or cheaper) software, so until then, I will am sticking with them. I am not currently doing a 2008 book. Instead, I decided to work on a book for years prior to blogging. It's more pictures and less writing (since I can't remember the details of the events two years ago.. sad.) When I printed 2007's book, it was 200 pages and over 900 pictures. I believe having picture collages helped the uploading process...

4. How did you do your Label Cloud?

Blogger doesn't give you an option to do a label cloud (they automatically post in a long list on the side bar.. it doesn't look very flattering, especially when you have lots of labels.) But you can easily create a cloud by changing your HTML code. The instructions are long, so I am not going to post them, but if you want a copy of the code, email me and I will send them to you (janetleeshumway at gmail dot com.) Before you can install this code, you need to label your posts. Once their are all labeled, you can install your cloud and change the colors to whatever matches your blog. Like I said, you have to be willing to play around with your HTML code.

5. Do you really track those who visit your site?

Absolutely. But it's not like I care if you visit my site a couple of times a day.. Bloggers actually LIKE other people to read their blogs, even if they don't know these people. We all blog hop and I don't label you as crazy if you stop by often. The tracking system that I use ISN'T very user-friendly, but it's better than nothing. You will have to add an HTML code to your blog as a new gadget and then go back to Statcounter to see who's looking at your blog. Some of you are freaking about that other people can see when you check their blog and how often you do it, but I don't think it's a big deal... Don't let a little tracker keep you from reading your favorite blogs. If you have a blog, I would advise you to get a tracker... because it's like you're spying on the people who are spying on you. Ha, ha, ha.

Also, Google Reader is a great tool to track your favorite blogs. Once you subscribe to a blog, it will send you a feed with their updates.. this way, you don't have to visit each site individually. It's a huge time saver for me (although I still have 400 posts to read from this past month from other bloggers.. there will be a day when I will feel caught up!)

6. Sorry I never have time to comment.

I know this isn't a question, but I am going to address it anyway. Obviously you have time to comment or you wouldn't be taking time to read the blog in the first place. Commenting takes all of two seconds. I personally do not comment on every post that I read, but if I regularly visit a blog, I try to comment to let them know that I stopped by, I read what they had to say and I either related in some way or thought it was interesting. This is common courtesy, people. It's also very awkward to run into someone you don't know, say for instance at the library, who knows all about you and you don't recognize them at ALL. I hate to point you out (MARCI!) but you still never comment, so I feel justified. It makes the relationship awkward because it's totally one-sided. Commenting and saying something is only flattering to the person writing the blog (even if you happen to disagree with what they say.) They are not going to think you are a weirdo for commenting. Don't feel guilty for reading someone else's blog (unless you are neglecting your kids all day :) The only thing you SHOULD feel guilty about is coming back day after day and not commenting! If you don't comment because you don't have a blog of your own, that's understandable. But when you DO get a blog of your own, you will know how vulnerable you feel when you post something-- you see that lots of people read it-- and you don't get any comments. It ain't good for your self esteem. So, if you read something and find it funny or relate-able, tell them so, for heaven's sake! It's the right thing to do. If Jesus was blogging, he would totally comment.

7. Why don't you answer my email or comment on my blog anymore?

Because I was homeless and didn't have a computer. I really feel bad about leaving some of you hanging. I realize that I have a home and a computer now, but I still have to unpack (and take care of three kids!) My husband already thinks I am on the computer enough as it is, so a girl can only do so much! Please forgive me. I will try to get back with you, ASAP... and if you start using my name as a "5-letter-word" at your house because I never return your email, I will only find it funny. (Hi Nova! Seriously, that was some good stuff!)

8. When are you going to post pictures of your home?

When I want to. Gosh! I am still in boxes. I just got dressers in the bedrooms yesterday. If you are waiting for pictures to be hung and the house to be painted, you are going to be waiting until next year. If you want to see it that badly, come and visit. If not, it's gonna be a while. Like 2010.

9. Are you Homeschooling this year?

You better believe it. Although, we are currently doing more unpacking and playing and less schooling. I am definitely stressed about it and I even considered putting the older boys in school.. for about 5 minutes. Then I told myself to relax, get situated and not worry about what they aren't learning. They are good kids and they will be fine. My plans for homeschooling this year include music lessons and Spanish... and, of course, lots of reading.

10. When are you going to have another baby?

As soon as I can get/stay pregnant. We've been trying for what seems like forever. I have had three mini-miscarriages this past year, all ending in the first trimester (my last one happened in the middle of our move.. talk about going through a lot all at once!) I really want another baby, but I am [surprisingly] doing well. I think I have accepted the fact that if I can't have any more kids, I would be just fine. I don't see any point to wish for something that isn't possible right now. That doesn't mean we aren't still trying, but I have been blessed immensely and don't want to seem ungrateful for all that I have.

11. When are you coming up to Utah again?

In a week. One of my BFF's is getting married and I am flying in without the kids for a mini vacation... it will be a quick trip. Hope to see you at the wedding reception because that's what I will be doing while I am there.

12. What are you going to be for Halloween?

Are you kidding me? As if I would tell you! Yes, we have our costumes planned out and yes, it's gonna be fabulous, but I am not giving away any details. Let's just say that The Force will be with us.


That's all I have time for, Amigos. I've gotta get dinner on the table... Until next time.