Merry Christmas!!

Jariah, Becca, and Benjamin arrived home at about 5:00 p.m. yesterday. (I wrote this at about 7:00 p.m. Christmas day, but didn't get it published!) Zion had worked on the living room while I was at work Christmas morning and got it almost presentable for their arrival. Brandon and I decorated the tree on Christmas Eve, (although we didn't tell him that it was Christmas Eve.... we are letting him think that Friday is Christmas Eve and Saturday is Christmas this year!!! There just have been enough hours in the day these past few weeks!) I am going to be posting more pictures of Benjamin and some pictures of Brandon decorating the tree but right now for some reason I can't get the pictures off my memory card and onto my laptop. I guess they'll have to wait for Zion to get home. =)

I don't know about the rest of you, but I think he's pretty cute!! =)

Benjamin Lee Holsapple was born at 2:30 something this morning. He's a healthy 8 pound 7 ounces, 20 inches long. (at least I'm pretty sure that's what Jariah said when he called at 3:30 this a.m.) You might want to check back after 3 pm (When I get off work) and I'll verify those stats and possibly post some pics. =)

*Update at 5:45*

Okay, it was actually 3:50 a.m. when the baby was born, Jariah called me around 4:30 to let me know he was here. I went to work for about an hour this morning when Zion called me and told me that Jariah had just called and said that Ben was having trouble breathing and we didn't know what was going on. I called my boss and told him that my sister in law had had her baby last night and the baby wasn't doing well, so he came in so I could go to the hospital for moral support for Becca and Jariah. Everything seems to be almost okay with Benjamin, they think that he has something called Strep B, for you nurses out there, you know what that is, but for the rest of us I'll explain in layman's terms. 20 years ago an infant diagnosed with Strep B wouldn't have great chances, but now, thanks to science, it's not that huge of a deal. Just a little scary for the family members.=)

Jariah, Becca, and Brandon moved in with us to what we have affectionately dubbed the Habitat today.

Becca has been having contractions all night last night and all day today, so she and Jariah headed off to the hospital a few minutes ago. We are expecting the baby sometime tonight.
This past 8 weeks have to have been the most insane weeks of my life, since Zion and I have moved twice, gone to Ohio for a week, helped Jariah and Becca move, worked like a madman fixing up the Habitat, and now am babysitting a hyper 2 year old while my best friend has a baby, all between working 40 hours a week!!!

Please keep them (and us since we have Brandon!) in your prayers. I'll keep you posted as I have new information! Thanks and God Bless.

I'm so excited! I am heading for Ohio on Wednesday for a (in my humble opinion) well deserved break!!! WooHooo!!!! I will be there for 6 days!!! I can't wait!! YYYAAAAYYYY!!!!

Mom and I are going to scrapbook and watch old family favorite Christmas movies, Janessa and I are going to bake Christmas cookies and have one of our world-renowned pajama parties, (we might even invite Mom and Jess!!) Jess and I will probably go Christmas shopping (I might even convince her to scrapbook with Mom and I, too!!!) and the whole group will most likely play some boardgames and watch home movies and Dad will make the most wonderful peanut butter fudge that anyone has ever had!!!!!! (I love that stuff!!!)

So much FuN!!!!!!

We are moving all of our stuff for the third time in 4 months today!! Woohooo!

Ain't moving grand?!

On a brighter note, yesterday on the way to clean and pack up our 'new' "home", I was rear ended by a pickup truck and have had a nice little headache and some minor neck pains since. =)

(This is of course on top of working everyday since last Monday.... with one of those days starting at 3 a.m.)

Betcha all wish you were me,

living this life of luxury out here in beautiful AZ!!! =P

My new boss Bill is sooooo mean!! He made me decorate this really puny, hideously ugly, "Charlie Brown y" tree for the lobby of our hotel. When the maintenance man brought the tree and other decorations down, Gaby (the other daytime desk clerk) and myself were appalled. They were in a sad state, so when Bill got there, we both asked if there was any way that we could go get some new things. He said no way, absolutely not, there was nothing in the budget for that. He gave me a budget of a measly $20.00 for decorations. I ended up spending almost $30.00 (With his permission... of course) and did what I could with some new ribbon, a couple beaded garlands and some wrapping paper. It actually turned out looking pretty good (Yeah, I've got skills... I inherited some of my Mom's decorating sense!) and today I heard some of the guests saying how pretty the tree was. (Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside....)

Later, when I was bragging to Bill about that and telling him about another guest who made a comment about the small size of the tree, and he had the nerve to tell me that if I had only asked him for some money, we could have gotten a new tree!! When I reminded him that Gaby and I had both asked, he said, yeah.... but you didn't beg. What a punk!!!!

If only I had known.... =(

I'll try to take some pictures of the tree etc. tomorrow and get them posted on here for all to see. =)

A guest recently told me that her son's girlfriend looks "just like you!" Apparently, her natural hair color is more blond than this picture depicts, and she has recently gone back to a lighter shade. I don't see much of a resemblance, do you?? (She's the one in the middle.)

Not sure why I don't blog much anymore. I guess it doesn't seem as important. Who knows.

I have things to say. I just don't feel as motivated to say them.

Who knows.

That's all...


(I was too lazy to come up with my own lack of excuse as to why I don't write on here anymore, so I swiped John's. ) =)

Congratulations, Mom

on your big 50!!!!

I hope you have a wonderful birthday and a fabulous year!!! I wish I was there to help you celebrate this year, but since I can't, I'll try to be there for your next one!!

I love you!!!!

Zion received this as a forwarded email. It cracked me up. Enjoy!!

(I think I'm going to try this at work sometime...)

20 Ways to Maintain a Healthy Level of Insanity

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a
Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over
The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with that.

4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It "In."

5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.

6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write "For Smuggling Diamonds"

7. Finish All Your sentences with"In Accordance With The Prophecy."

8. Don't use any punctuation

9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk

10. Order a Diet Water whenever you go Out to eat with a serious face.

11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order
Is "To Go."

12. Sing Along At The Opera

13. Go To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme

14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Play tropical Sounds All Day.

15. Five Days In Advance , Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're "Not In The Mood."

16. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your wrestling Name, "Rock Bottom."

17. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream "I Won!, I Won!"

18. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking lot, Yelling"Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!!"

19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner. "Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You go."

20. And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity......Send This E-mail To Someone To Make Them Smile. It's Called! Therapy.

Everything you are about to read happened to me today before 10:00 a.m. I woke up at 6:15 and had to be at work by 7. No problem, I was even a few minutes early. I was "being trained" on the front desk... by someone who has only worked at this hotel twice, (counting today!) he usually works at another Holiday Inn in Tucson, but he has been filling in and helping out at my property while they have been transitioning between their old and the new manager. I taught him a couple things on the computer that he didn't know how to do. It was funny.

Anyway, at about 8 am, one of the guests came down to the desk. She was talking to Zeus (the guy who was training me) but she was looking at me the entire time (I was sitting in the back eating some french toast... it's a tough job, but someone has to do it!!!) like she really wanted to be talking to me and not him. (She has been a guest since I started, and I have talked to her almost every day during breakfast.) Well, all I heard was the tail end of it, something along the lines of "throwing things at me..." I seriously thought she was kidding, so I went up and politely but almost jokingly asked, "Who's throwing stuff at you?" Her response, "my husband, and he almost broke the window in your hotel room."

Then she told me what was going on and that she had gotten out of the room after her suitcase flew across it in her direction, but before he could pin her to the wall or something. (What is wrong with people?!??!?) I offered to call the police, but she wasn't sure that's what she wanted to do. She asked if there was any other way that she could go get the stuff out of her room, but I told her as far as I knew, that if there was a dangerous man up there, her best bet would be to have the police escort her to get her belongings. But I said that I would also ask the manager if he had any other suggestions. I went and got Bill, and he and the lady walked away for a minute before coming back and calling the cops.

These are the fastest cops I have ever seen in my life. They were there, three of them, in about 30 seconds. (I still don't know how they did that!!!) Bill took the lady to our boardroom while the officers went up the confront the husband. I thought that that was going to be the end of it for me, but no. Bill ended up coming to the desk and asking me to go sit with the lady so that she wouldn't be waiting alone but would have some female companionship. I went over and got her some coffee and then sat down with her for an earful! (Again, I must ask, what is wrong with people??!?!?)

I also had to accompany them (the lady and a cop) to the room while she packed everything up, and helped her carry it all down to the boardroom. I then ended up sitting with her and the policeman in the boardroom for about half and hour until the taxi that I called arrived to pick her up and take her to her daughter's house.

All in a day's work..... crAZy!!!

Then, as if all that wasn't enough, about 10 minutes after I was done with that, Zion called me and said that he was stranded somewhere in Tucson with a broken down car. I had to leave work for about 30 minutes to go pick him up. On the way back to work, Zion told me what had happened to him. His brakes went out while he was driving toward work during rush hour traffic. He ended up jumping a curb into oncoming traffic to avoid crashing into the BMW that was stopped at the stoplight ahead of him.Thankfully, no one was hurt, and the car it barely even damaged (one rim is a little askew). The brakes and tire should be fixed by tomorrow. I hope tomorrow isn't quite like today. Like I said, it was a crAZy day!!!

Scrambled words:
Someone out there either has too much spare time, but I thought I would share this with you, I thought it was pretty interesting!!

(Wait till you see the last one...)

DORMITORY:

When you rearrange the letters:

DIRTY ROOM

PRESBYTERIAN:

When you rearrange the letters:

BEST IN PRAYER

ASTRONOMER:

When you rearrange the letters:

MOON STARER

DESPERATION:

When you rearrange the letters:

A ROPE ENDS IT

THE EYES:

When you rearrange the letters:

THEY SEE

GEORGE BUSH:

When you rearrange the letters:

HE BUGS GORE

THE MORSE CODE:

When you rearrange the letters:

HERE COME DOTS

SLOT MACHINES:

When you rearrange the letters:

CASH LOST IN ME

ANIMOSITY:

When you rearrange the letters:

IS NO AMITY

ELECTION RESULTS:

When you rearrange the letters:

LIES - LET'S RECOUNT

SNOOZE ALARMS:

When you rearrange the letters:

ALAS! NO MORE Z 'S

A DECIMAL POINT:

When you rearrange the letters:

IM A DOT IN PLACE

ELEVEN PLUS TWO:

When you rearrange the letters:

TWELVE PLUS ONE

AND FOR THE GRAND FINALE:

MOTHER-IN-LAW:

When you rearrange the letters:

WOMAN HITLER

Yep! Someone with waaaaaaaaaaaytoo much time on their hands!

(Probably a son-in-law....)

Well, apparently I will be working at the front desk a couple days a week starting this Thursday and Friday.

Right now, it looks like I will be doing breakfast 3 mornings and front desk 2 mornings a week. I'm not sure yet if I am happy about it, because even though it means not getting there till 7 instead of 5:30... it also means getting off at 3 instead of 11, plus no tips!!!

My Birthday!!!

Well, I made out like a bandit for my 25th birthday yesterday.

Brandon and I waiting for Becca and Zion to bring me my gifts....

Brandon made me an adorable birthday card, with just a little help from his mommy, of course!!

Zion got me a new 6.1 mega pixel digital camera, with 3x zoom and a 2.4" high resolution LCD screen (using points we had earned from a credit card, it only cost him $.41!!); it's awesome!! Since that didn't really cost him anything, he also got me one of the new pictures that I wanted for our new apartment!! I love it!!!

 

Jariah, Becca and Brandon got me this green, wood bowl from Off Saks 5th Avenue that I have had my eye on since Mom, Dad and Janessa were here in June! I absolutely love it!!! My new apartment is going to look so awesome!!!!! Woohoo!!

This is so cool!!!

Me with all my loot!!!

After present time, we all went out for pizza at Mama's Pizza. It was fun and the pizza was really good. (It's no Chuffer's, but it'll do in a pinch!!)

Brandon can't eat pizza, so he had fries and pizza crusts. It's not the healthiest thing to eat, but he sure liked it!!! =)

Well, it's official. I am a quarter of a century old today.

How did this happen?!?

DOG DAY AFTERNOON!

This is not what you expect when you go to Disneyworld. I've been there twice and never had an experience like this.

32 things everyone should know...

1. Money isn't made out of paper, it's made out of cotton.
2. The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper.
3. The dot over the letter i is called a "tittle"
4. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.
5. The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher. Oye!
6. 40% of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.
7. 315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.
8. The 'spot' on 7UP comes from its inventor, who had red eyes. He was albino.
9. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents, daily. (Scary thought!)
10. Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine are brother and sister. (I'm not really sure who they are, or why that matters... but this list wasnt made up by me...lol)
11. Chocolate affects a dog's heart and nervous system; a few ounces will kill a small sized dog.
12. Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.
13. Most lipstick contains fish scales (eeww).
14. Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants.
15. Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine.
16. Upper and lower case letters are named 'upper' and 'lower' because in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the 'upper case' letters were stored in the case on top of the case that stored the smaller, 'lower case' letters.
17. Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time ... hence, multi-tasking was invented.
18. Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.
19. There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.
20. The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan; there was never a recorded Wendy before!
21. There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with: orange, purple, and silver!
22. Leonardo Da Vinci invented scissors. Also, it took him 10 years to paint Mona Lisa's lips.
23. A tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion will make it instantly go mad and sting itself to death. (Good to know.)
24. The mask used by Michael Myers in the original "Halloween" was a Captain Kirk mask painted white.
25. If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar (good to know.)
26. By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you can't sink in quicksand (and you thought this list was completely useless.)
27. The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law, which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
28. The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was the Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.
29. Celery has negative calories! It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with.. It's the same with apples!
30. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying!
31. Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.
32. Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a space suit damages it.


I don't know why everyone should know these things, but I wanted to do my part and tell the 4 people who still read my blog about it.=)

Okay, so I guess it's time for an update... I have been at my job for just over a week now. It's going pretty well. Right now I am the continental breakfast girl, which consists of heating up a bunch of pre-cooked foods, keeping the juices full and the coffee hot. I also wipe all the tables down between guests, and sweep and mop the floor. (Mopping is my absolute least favorite part of the job, but I think it will have a positive effect on my abs....)

My manager, Bill, says that in the next couple of weeks he will train me on the front desk. (Shouldn't be too hard, since I have worked at the front desk in Lima for 5 years and they use the same computer system that I used there. I'll just have to learn all their phone extensions and things that are specific to this property.)

So far I am liking the job, and the people that I am getting to know. I have only ever talked to a couple of my new co-workers, because I am in the cafe by myself (except the guests). So it's basically just been Bill, the general manager, and Van, the maintenance man, plus a couple of housekeepers who barely speak English that I have met. Bill is fairly new to his position, but I think he is a great manager, (And I've had some of the best!!) and Van is the guy who trained me.

I am slowly getting used to the schedule... I have to be there by 5:30 each morning, which means that I have to be up by 4:45-5, and I am generally home by 11. (Which until a week ago was about the time I was waking up... how crazy!!!)

This is a much smaller property than what I was used to in Lima, only 89 rooms compared to 150 and only about 15 employees compared to almost 100! It's also closer to my house than the one in Lima was, if you can believe that!! (It used to take me 4 minutes to work, now, even if I get stopped at the traffic light, it takes me 2 minutes!! Isn't that awesome?!??!)

Please pray for Bro. Ron Spencer, he was pretty badly burned earlier today and is in intensive care. Thank you.

I start my new job tomorrow morning!!!

What cartoon character are you? Take this quiz to find out and let us know, I am....

Which cartoon character do you most resemble?

Charlie Brown You are Charlie Brown: You are tender, you fall in love quickly but you are also very serious about all relationships. You are a family person. You call your Mom every Sunday. You have many friends and may occasionally forget a few Birthdays. Don't let your passion confuse you with reality.

How do you compare? Take this test! Tests from Testriffic

Hopeful New Job!

I called my would-be manager today just to make sure that he had actually received my application (When I dropped it off, there were two teen-aged boys working the desk and you just never know with them... haha!) and he said that yes he did and he is going to call me sometime next week so we can sit-down for an interview. I really hope that this works out the way I'm thinking it might.

I just thought this was funny

Today, I went to the Holiday Inn Express right down the road from our apartment and got an application. The man who handed me the application happened to be the General Manager and we talked for a couple of minutes about my 5+ years of Holiday Inn experience before he shook my hand, gave me his business card and told me to get my application back to him as soon as possible. I dropped it off tonight and I am cautiously optimistic about my chances of getting a job there in the very near future. =)

Well, I haven't done too much since coming back from Ohio... (not that that's a surprise to any of you...) except sleep, run with Zion, plan next years kids camp activities main attraction; an old fashioned carnival, (in case I get a cart and do activities again.... ) scrapbooking, and watching some great Charles Dickens movies while fighting the beginning stages of a cold that I seem to have caught from Jariah and Becca. Phew! I guess I have been doing more than I thought!!!

Well, the first annual Ron Ball Memorial Fun Run/Walk at Family camp this year was a huge success, in more than one way!! (Great Idea, John!) Its participants not only raised over $4,000 for missions, but it motivated Zion to get into better shape!!

Zion and I have been running every night since arriving back to 'the haven'. I, like many of you, was so proud of Zion for even finishing the 2 mile race on Saturday, but I am even more excited about how motivated he is to do better at next years race!!!! His goal is to beat Justin (Who came in THIRD this year!!!! Yup, that's my brother!!!! ;)) next year. So everyone look out!!

IT'S A BOY!!!!

Jariah and Becca found out on Monday that their new addition to our family will be another boy!!!

Zion just called, him and Jariah are on there way home early today because T.E.P. does not have power right now! LOL.... The power company has no power!! What a town!!! Apparently, the first floor was flooded killing the power, and the back up generators aren't working properly because they go through the first floor. Only in Tucson, I say. =)

Tomorrow, tomorrow,
I love ya, tomorrow;
You're only a day away!

I leave for Ohio at 11:24 tomorrow!!!

We just watched a movie called North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. It was great! It is not the the North and South that I have previously seen. Becca found this one online and rented it, and when she told me the title, I was like, just don't watch it with Brandon anywhere around, because that is a pretty violent movie. I was thinking that it was the old Civil war movie that I had watched years ago, but it is a newer movie (made in 2004) about a girl from the Old English time period. Along the same lines as Charles Dickens 'Bleakhouse' and all of Jane Austin's novels. I highly recommend watching it, it's a really good movie!

I also made some No Bake Oatmeal Cookies, and they were delicious for the first time since I moved out here!!! I used to make them all the time in Ohio, and they always turned out perfectly, but since moving, I have attempted them to no avail at least 15 times. It's very discouraging when you love them and haven't had a good batch for over a year. I blame the hovel!!!

I have quickly learned that bon-bons are so much more enjoyable in a nice, air conditioned home; now I just have to go find me one of those gardeners or pool boys...... *cheeky grin*

Our new apartment is wonderful!!!! The complex is so nice, the location is awesome ('cept of course the fact that we're still in AZ...) and our apartment is simply divine!! There's two bathrooms!!!!!! What a luxurious way to live!!

It's a little tight right now with all of us in here, but I think once we finish getting everything unpacked and organized, it's going to work out great!!

These apartments are so nice, I really can't wait until Zion and I move into our own in a few months. THAT is going to be so awesome. It'll be a ball having and decorating a proper home again!!!

I was going to post this tomorrow, on the day that I actually move, but since we are loading everything tonight, I probably won't have a computer to use in the morning. It might be a couple days until I post again, not sure what day the net will be hooked up in our new place. Talk to you all later!! Enjoy!!!

Ode to the Hovel

By: Jeshanah Ramirez

Edited by: Sharla Holsapple and Becca Holsapple

Ode to the hovel,

What a humble abode;

You used to be the color,

Of an ugly, green toad.

Where once you were green,

Now you are brown;

You match all the rest,

Of the shantys around.

You're still really ugly,

Of that, have no fear;

That's why this has been,

The world's longest year.

Our feet are always filthy,

Because of your floor;

All the sand in this state,

Comes in under your door.

There's trash everywhere,

Not that it matters;

With your curb appeal,

The trash almost flatters.

Cockroaches and ants,

Bugs galore;

You've grossed us out once,

And then some more.

Outside there are people,

Who like to get high;

Sweet smoke fills the air,

And also my eyes.

If the smoke could stay out,
Instead of coming in;
I could think better thoughts,
My head wouldn't swim.

I'm told it's the same,

In the best neighborhoods;

If I could leave you closed up,

Believe me, I would.

If it's really so safe,

Then please tell me why;

Do we have to have a fence,

That is 6 feet high?

And even with the fence,

The occasional stranger;

Will stop to peek in,

(But I'm sure there's no danger!)

I never had heard,

Of a swamp cooler before;

But I soon learned,

That it's only a metaphor.

The guys have to go up,

On the roof night and day;

Because the cooler is worthless,

What else can I say?

You're an ugly old house,

And a match I would strike;

But you've made me quite famous,

And that part I like!

Some people may think,

I'm just being vicious;

And that you are only,

Being "hovelicious".

(But you broke one of my brand new dishes!!!)

Some friends of mine joke,

That once I move out;

I won't have anything left,

To go on and on about.

My complaints will be fewer,

No doubt in my mind;

But I'll think of something,

I've just gotta whine!

I can hardly believe,

I've lived here all year long;

Now that I'm leaving,

I could burst into song!

Count your many blessings,

Name them one by one;

My time in the hovel,

Is finally done!

Busy packing... so hot... almost over... can't wait for tomorrow!!

2 days!!! We get to move on Thursday, July 12th!!! I am soooooooooo excited!!! We still have alot of work to do, (it's slow going when it's 100 degrees while you are trying to pack!!!) but things are coming together!! It's going to be so wonderful to live in a nice place again.... woot!!!!!11!!!1! Woohooo!!!! Yay!!! Hurray!!! So on and so forth!!

Happy Independence Day to you all!!!!!!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful

4th of July celebration

wherever and however you choose to spend it. =)

We just got back to the hovel from Phoenix, where we spent yesterday and today with Danny and Joanna and their boys. Us girls went shopping at some furniture stores yesterday, and personally, I had alot of fun looking at everything. There are some really cool pieces of furniture and room displays out there, it's going to be a blast decorating my new digs!!!

This morning we went and visited our 'old' new church, (Bro. Ron Peterson's, where the Phoenix Ramirez's attend) and it was nice to see those believers again. At one point during his sermon, Bro. Ron brought up that Hillary Clinton is running for President, and that he might for the first time in his life go register to vote.... for her!!!!!!! LOL His reason was something along these lines: he wanted to vote for her so maybe the end would be upon us and we could get out of dodge!! Cracked me up, whatever the reason.

Today we are baking, and I don't mean cake!!! The hovel is a whopping 89 degrees inside right now. It's miserable.

Also, last night I was bit at least 4 times by some kind of bug (probably red ants) so my legs are all itchy with giant red bumps that are driving me insane.

I'm so glad that we get to move out of the hovel in the next few weeks into a beautiful apartment with lovely grounds where they have air conditioning and they spray every two weeks for bugs. I can't wait!!! =)

Happy Birthday, Heep!!!

Hope your day was a good one,

enjoy your carrot cake!!!

Love ya!!

Mom and Dad headed home today. They left at 6 am, and they called about an hour ago. Their van broke down in Oklahoma. Please pray that they will make it home the rest of the way safely.

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dear Becca... Happy Birthday to you!!!

I hope you have a wonderful birthday here at the hovel!! You have been a great housemate, but thank goodness this part of our lives is almost over!!!! But, oh, the stories we'll all have to tell our grandchildren!!!!

Mom, Dad and Ness are having a truly 'hovelicious' experience this week. It has been very hot in the hovel during the day, and last night and today, we had an unwelcome visit from some of my least favorite Arizona critters... fire ants. I was bit on my feet and legs about 3 times, and mom was bit on her back a couple times. It ain't fun!! =)

Despite the ants, (and the fact that we are in Arizona....) I have loved having them all here for a while. Janessa is a little sweetheart and I have missed her alot this past year. Her and Brandon have been having a fantastic time playing together, I don't know how they will handle being separated when the time comes for her to go home. (Honestly, I'm not sure how I'll handle it when they have to go home, either!!! At least I know I get to go visit them in August, and we will be moving between now and then, so I should keep pretty busy in the meantime.)

It's late and I'm tired, I'll try to post more later!!

Father's Day Pictures...

Pictures of Mom, Dad, and Janessa's trip out... and the night they arrived bearing gifts for Brandon! Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!!!

Happy 30th, Justin!!!

I hope that your day is fantastic and this next year the best ever!!

Have a great time wherever your travels are taking you.

I miss you and I'll see you in August!!! Love ya!!!

Happy Father's Day, Pops!!!

I hope that you had a great day, we sure did! It's been great having you all here the past few days!! I miss you all so bad when we aren't together... it's always nice to see you guys again!! I love you, Dad!

Happy Father's day to the rest of you

not-so-important-to-me-therefore-not-so-important fathers, too!! =P

Hope you all have a nice day!!!

Mom and Dad enjoying their visit to the new and improved (newly painted) hovel.

Right now, my Mom and Dad are playing tennis on the wii with Jariah and Zion. LOL ...Who would have thought that that would ever happen??? Not I!!

They're here!!! My parents and Janessa arrived safely a few hours ago!!! It is so great to see them!!!!!! I am just hoping that the weather cools down (wishful thinking on my part) so we can enjoy their visit to the fullest without anyone croaking from the heat!!!!

My Mom, Dad and Janessa

leave to come here in

10 hours!!!!!

WooHooo!!!!!!

Saturday was nuts!! Josh called at around 9 a.m. and told Zion that a couple guys were on their way to the hovel to paint the outside of it. He has been planning on getting it painted for a few months now, but the guys weren't ready to do it yet. They apparently called him about 5 minutes before he called us and told him that they were going to get it done today.

Because Becca is pregnant, and can't be around paint fumes, they immediately left for the day. Jariah, Becca and Brandon got up and got ready quickly so they would be gone before the paint fumes started flying. They went out for breakfast, took their time letting Brandon play in the McDonalds play land, went ahead to our new apartment to sign the final papers, then came back about 3 hours later to check the progress of the painters. The painters had gotten there about 5 minutes before and were just starting to tape off the place...

Zion and I hadn't gone anywhere yet, we weren't sure what we were going to do because we had been planning on packing up some stuff to get ready for our move and for my parents coming to visit, but when the painters got there and started working, they asked us to turn the coolers off because it was messing up the paint, so when Jariah and Becca got back, we all headed out together to destination unknown!!

We ended up going to the Planetarium, which was big fun for Brandon and pretty boring for the rest of us. (After growing up 15 minutes from the Neil Armstrong Space Museum, Tucson's little planetarium was pretty sad...)

After the show at the planetarium, we were all hungry, so we decided to go to Olive Garden for soup, salad, bread sticks and their famous and delicious Bellini iced tea. We went to the one on the other side of town, right by the Park Place mall, so after eating, we went to the mall to kill some more time. By this point of the day, it was about 6:30, we figured the paint guys were probably done, so we could go back home to at least turn on the cooler then we would go back out for another hour to give the cooler a chance to cool down the hovel a bit.

When we got back to the hovel, we saw that the painters hadn't gotten very much done, and they were in fact just arriving back to the house to continue painting. It had gotten really hot during the day, and when it got to be too much for them, they left. It was 6:30, and they had another few hours of work to do before we could come home!

We then headed over to the Tucson Mall and walked around for a couple more hours, then came back home ready to relax at around 9 p.m. The guys were gone, the painting wasn't quite finished and the fumes were horrible!!! At this point, Becca was dead tired (she'd been walking around and out and about for 12 hours straight!!!) and we knew it would probably be a few more hours before the fumes would dissipate. We had no where to go, everything was closed. Zion called Josh, and he said we could come over for a while if we wanted, but Jariah said the fumes probably wouldn't be gone until morning. Becca went out to the car to stay away from the fumes while Jariah called area hotels and looked online for a room. They ended up staying down the road at Best Western costing them 70 bucks.

It was the longest, most boring day in a year-long history of the most boring days of our lives... and here was a post to match the boringness of the day!!

I'll let Becca tell you about the drunken party in the room next door...

Happy birthday, Jess!!!

I hope you have a great day and a fabulous year!!

I miss you!!

Love ya, sis!!!

=)

We just found out that we get to move in on July 1st!! Wooohooo!!!! This is so sweet!! =)

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!!!

I hope you both had a great day!!

I love you both!!!

My life is finally looking up again.

My parents are coming with Janessa for a week to visit on or around the 17th!! (They are driving, so they could be here on the 16th or 17th, depending on traffic and how long Janessa can stand to be in the van!) =) I can't wait to see them all again!!!

Also, we are finally getting out of the hovel!! We got the move in date of July 13th to our new apartment in Pusch Ridge. The 5 of us will be living in one 2 bed/2 bath for the first couple months, then around December, Zion and I will move into our own 2 bed/2 bath apartment, leaving the first one for Jariah, Becca, Brandon and the new baby who is due sometime in Janurary. It's all very exciting, because the apartments are awesome!!!!!


Click here to see pictures of the apartments. =)

Yesterday was Becca's first doctor appointment with this pregnancy. They gave her an estimated delivery date of Jan. 13th, but she has to go back in 2 weeks and they will do an ultra-sound which should give us a more accurate date.

We still don't know if there is one or two, or of course if it's a boy or girl. She's about 7-8 weeks along, but I don't know how far along you have to be before they can tell you the sex of the baby?

Personally, when I have mine, I don't intend to find out. (Unless I actually get my triplets, then I want to know what the ratio of boys to girls is as soon as possible!!!!)

I hope that everyone had a good Memorial Day!! While we didn't go to the usual Memorial Day Picnic in Gomer this year (for the second year in a row...) we did have a very nice day. We were invited over to Bro. Mark and Sis. Tina's for lunch along with 2 other couples.

After lunch, we played pictionary, gals vs. guys + Laryssa!! (there were more girls than guys...) Despite my superior skills(lol), he guys team destroyed us. They set the board up so that both teams were drawing the same thing at the same time, but we couldn't see what the opposite person (who happened to be your significant other...) was drawing. It was quite comical at times, and really alot of fun!!! =)

After pictionary, everyone just sat and visited for a while, then we headed down the road and did something that I would never have thought I would do.

We went to an overpass down the road, and walked partway down into a 'wash' (which is where all the water goes to form a temporary river whenever it rains in AZ.) and watched as thousands of bats flew out to start their evening of hunting... or whatever it is that they go do. It was quite disgusting and at the same time, kinda cool to see.

This is crazy!!

So, Jariah and Becca's baby.... what are we thinking??

Is it another boy?

A girl this time?

Or:

One of each???

I want your feedback!!!

There is nothing like fresh pineapple. They are delicious.

It's official!!! Today, Becca is craving mashed potatoes and crab ragoons. (ragoons or rangoons??) What a strange combo!!! And, unfortunately for her, the crab ragoons that she wants are from Hunan Garden in Lima!!!!

Exciting Announcement!!!!!

(I wanted to beat mom to the punch, so I got permission....)

BECCA'S PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm gonna be an aunt again and

I hope it's a girl!!!!!!!