well, updating/upgrading PHP versions within OSX is something that I'm really having trouble finding help with/documentation on.

Sooo...I downloaded Abyss for OSX and the PHP5 release by the same company made especially for Abyss. Seems like this will be a good solution for now. This is just a test server for me to mess around on, so I'll prob stick with Abyss if I never resolve the other issue.