I taught Brandon a new word a little while ago and now that he's really good at it, I'm putting it on my blog. He had the hickups when we were trying to get him to say it on the microphone. Can you figure out what he said??!



Also, a few minutes ago while I was trying to get Brandon to let me put his pants back on (Jariah had just changed his diaper) he wasn't going for it at all, (he's his daddy's son...) he said the funniest thing. I said, "Come on... Nanny is dressed, Mommy is dressed, and Daddy and Uncle Zion are dressed, why don't we get you dressed, too?" He said, "No!", (his favorite word lately...) so Zion offered to take his clothes off to be like Brandon and Brandon said, "Whoa!!"......."GROSS!!" It was hillarious!!!!

Okay, this is a little late, but since we're on the birthday train, happy belated birthday to BekahY on the 20th!!!

(sorry I forgot to mention it before, but you did help break my nose that time... ) =)

Happy Birthday Aunt Barb!!!!
Thanks for the card, Sorry I didn't send you one, but... I am my mother's daughter. =)

It's my birthday... yeah, it's my birthday!! w00t...w00t!!!!!


(or something like that.)

Zion took me to get some Creative Memories stuff on Saturday, so I have been working on my albums since then. I am actually redoing my entire wedding album because I have never been very happy with the way it turned out, so I ripped it all apart and started completely from scratch. It's a pretty big job, but I think it is going to be totally worth it!!

Since I am scrapbooking again, it makes me think about a lot of other old memories that we might not have 'snap-snap' pictures of, so I am taking a little walk down memory lane. (Normally this sort of stuff is reserved for campfire conversation or Christmas eve, or even a journal, but I don't write in a journal, I missed the recent campfire, and I'm not entirely sure where we'll be for Christmas eve.) If you'd like to join me on my little walk, read on!


Remember when Dad fell in that huge mud puddle on our church camping trip to Brown County? (He was walking me back to his and Mom's tent from the one that about 5 of us little girls were staying in. We had gotten scared because we had played a prank on Justin and Jariah by putting hotdogs around the truck that they were sleeping in and when we heard animal noises later that night, we thought for sure that some horrible wild animals were attacking my brothers!!!)

I remember when Dad fell down (again!) getting out of his truck while coming to rescue Mom and I after we got the van stuck in the ditch just after a snow storm. I won't mention why I was the one who had to go into the stranger's house to call for help, while Mom sat comfortably in the van, but she didn't want to hippety-hop to go use the phone... you're welcome mom!! (Evil laugh)

I remember Justin jumping into the lake to rescue me from 'drowning' when it was my turn to go tubing behind a PONTOON boat!! (Probably not the smartest thing we ever did, but it was kinda fun!) John was driving and went faster in the pontoon than I wanted him to and the tube started to go under water because of the current. (I never forget, John!) Jariah jumped in, too, but Justin had superman like reflexes and was there in a flash!!

I remember how Jess ALWAYS found a mud puddle to accidentally step in on the first day of every vacation we took there for a while. (She probably would have found one in Arizona, too!)

I remember when Jariah got burned so badly in that fire. And of course, who can forget how Justin swallowed a nail!!

I also remember Justin getting Rocky Mountain spotted fever, no doubt from spending all the time down by the creek building his mansion of a tree house. (I'm not kidding, the thing had 3 stories!!)

And then there was that fire in the trailer while Mom was at work and Jess was doing the laundry. She and Justin had it put out BEFORE the fire department even arrived and although they didn't even let me near the trailer while there was any fire or even smoke, the ambulance people just had to check me out in case I was too stupid to know that I had been burned. (I had marker on my hands and they were really closely examining that like it was some terrible burn and I remember thinking, you guys are idiots, if this was a burn, I would be bawling my eyes out, I was like six or seven years old, believe me, if I was hurt, you would have known about it BEFORE you even pulled in!!!) I am still curious about how fast Mr. Steaman and Mom both drove to get there after calling 911 for us... the trip from mom's work USUALLY took 15 minutes, but Mr. Steamen got there about the same time the fire trucks did, and mom was only about 20 seconds behind!!!!

I also remember falling into the swimming pool that was frozen over. (man, talk about your cold water!!)

Oh yeah, I also remember something concerning BekaY and my own dear sweet sister, Jess. You guys remember, right? How you BROKE my NOSE right after my EYE SURGERY?!!!! And then you ate my milk duds!! Or did you eat my milk duds, then break my nose? It's not like I'm holding a grudge or anything.... but I want more milk duds!!! Moral of that is, don't play 'popcorn' on the trampoline!!!!

I almost forgot one of my favorites, remember when Zion had his car taken into the shop only to discover that it was out of gas?!

Well, that's all for now, we'll walk again later...

It's a Christmas Miracle!!!!!!

(Well, I guess not cause it's not Christmas and no one named Timmy can suddenly walk, but it's very exciting just the same!!!)







Wait for it, wait for it....




We can wash our hands and brush our teeth in the BATHROOM SINK!!! We don't have to use the tub, and we don't have to use the kitchen sink! No way, cause we have a bathroom sink that WORKS, baby!!!!! I'm living the good life now!!!! w00t!!!!!!!

(Some of you know that we bought a new bathroom sink when we purchased everything else to remodel the hovel, but we had some technical difficulties meshing the old and new plumbing together. Well, the guys finally had enough cash to go get the right part and the know how on what part they actually needed at the same time, so we now have a working sink!! It's a beautiful thing, really.)

Today my room smells like it does outside in Ohio after it rains and the worms come up out of the ground.
That's all.

I haven't written much lately because not much has changed. (I have now seen cockroaches number four and five... but, I don't want to keep reporting on that because it's so disgusting. Although I gotta say, number five was the absolute worst because Zion and Jariah were at work so it was up to me to kill it. I chased it around for a few minutes trying to muster the courage to actually step on the nasty mammoth thing before remembering we had an ant and roach spray. I got the can and sprayed him really good before he fell off the wall down behind our couch. I must have killed him, but we weren't entirely sure, so we stayed in our office chairs in the middle of the room with our feet off the ground and eyes wide open the rest of the day!! I would like to add that until Saturday, (after that incident) Becca and I didn't know if they were poisonous or not.) I also have continued to do laundry a few times a week, but that gets boring to talk about after the first time... soooo...

Oh yeah, here's something fun... On Saturday we went to Sierra Vista(where we learned that the cockroaches aren't poisonous) to watch the UofA game with Sam and Christina! Only, (thank goodness) Christina apparently likes watching football about as much as Becca and I do, so we didn't have stay there for the game, us girls went for a drive around town instead and then we stopped at the mall.

Sierra Vista is very pretty, it's a lot cooler then Tucson or Phoenix and they've had a lot of rain so everything is nice and green. They even have trees!! It's a nice little town. I think it's even smaller than Lima, they just got their first mall and they don't even have a Super Wal-mart yet!!!

On Sunday we headed back up to Phoenix for church. After service we went to a Mexican restaurant, the best one, in my opinion, that we've been to since moving. (Besides Taco Bell, of course!!) We then went over to Danny and Joanna's with Lily and the boys to wait until it was time for second service. (They take second services off during the summer and start them back up in September, so this was the first time we've been to a second service since moving here.) Second service started at five and Bro. Ron preached, then we had communion and foot washing. (Not trying to be sacrilegious or anything, but I think for the foot washing water they stuck a huge block of ice in the basin earlier in the day and then just let it thaw out before we went and washed each others feet. That was some of the coldest water I have ever had on me. (It was all I could do to keep from bursting out with the Holsapple family favorite, "Cold Water" by Heepie Bapple!! Thankfully, I refrained...) Unfortunately, I wasn't able to keep from laughing as my feet turned a weird shade of fuchsia!! I kept my head down with my hands over my face as I tried to get a grip, hoping that everyone would assume that I was crying instead of cracking up!! It was definitely a low point in my life...And my poor feet were seriously beet red for a full 10 minutes!!) After foot washing we went back in and ended up singing for two more hours. It was awesome, but made for a very late night for those of us who had a two hour drive back home after church. We didn't get back home till after mid-night.

Today, Becca and I did a 20 minute workout video! It was funny! It's her video, and I have never done it before, so I kept almost falling down with the wierd moves we had to do! I miss Julie's excercise classes alot!!! I could actually do that workout without looking like a complete moron! I'm really hoping that she makes a video like she said she might!!!

Happy Labor Day!!! (For those of you who actually care about Labor Day.)

Today, Jariah, Becca, Brandon, Zion and I went to a rodeo in Sonoita, about 40 miles south of Tucson. We found out about it online and thought it sounded like fun, so we went. About 20 minutes after we got there, it started pouring down rain. But I got to dress up like a cowgirl, (including a hat and boots) which really makes it all worthwhile!!!

We then went to Pinnacle Peak for our free meal!! It was delicious and we had a good waiter this time!! The show was cancelled (obviously) because of the rain, but that was okay since Brandon is terrified of it, anyway!! (It was so windy when we first got to the 'trail dust town', that my hat actually blew right off my head, and part way down the little road just prior to the picture of Becca and I holding onto our hats. (I have to explain all of this so that Jess knows that my belt didn't look that funky all day!! I had just chased my hat down the street and was still a little askew when Zion said, "Smile!") All in all, it was a great day!!

Oh, yeah, and here is a little something special for all the goats out there (and Becca) on this fine Labor Day...