Girls 1st B-Day!

So the girls turned 1 yr old on the 25th. We had their little celebration at my folks house on the 24th, (Thank You!) and didn't plan for it to be anything too big. We always try and make our kids birthdays a big deal and larger than life so look out for next year.

Faith didn't even want her cake, I gave her a taste and she made a gross face and dry heaved. She later tried to dump her cake onto the ground.

Hope loved every bit of her cake and ended up wearing it all over her face.

Charity would eat her cake but only if you fed it to her, other than that she just sat there.

They all needed a bath though at the end of the night. (We won't be showing the bathtub pics for fear that the all watching Walmart eye might be viewing). I've been very impressed with the girls' growth and development this year. Amber has been taking good care of them. I know all you guys out there think you got a good wife, but oh no, it takes a REAL woman to handle our little circus. I don't think anyone else could handle the burden that she has. She is a very special woman. I don't know how I got so lucky.

Heavenly Father has truly blessed our family. No major health issues this year with the girls.......In fact, I don't think we had ANY health problems with them other than a couple of breathing treatments for Hope.

The boys and I the other day flew kites out in the front yard. They liked it, until their arms got tired. I ended up flying both kites for awhile while they watched. They were talking to the kites as they were up in the air. Thomas was saying, "Hi Optimus Prime what are you doing" with a deeper voice response "I'm doing good, I'm really high in the air." It was comical. Ammon was the one who started it with his Bumblebee kite. So there they were flying and talking to their kites.

Charity is now climbing all the way up the stairs and sometimes disappears up there when we're not looking. She's pretty smart. Hope is still doing the military crawl but is lifting herself up onto her feet. Faith is usually playing by herself and is just ok with that.

We ate at Sushi Creek and had sushi, (yes Amber had sushi) for the first time. It was very tasty. We went with a fellow co-worker and his wife and had a great time. Amber wasn't to excited about the California Roll, but later we had the Big Foot Roll which is deep fried and had eel sauce on it. Yum Yum!


“Fourteen years ago the Lord took my wife beyond the veil. I love her with all my heart, but I have never complained because I know it was His will. I have never asked why but rather what is it that He wants me to learn from this experience. I believe that is a good way to face the unpleasant things in our lives, not complaining but thanking the Lord for the trust He places in us when He gives us the opportunity to overcome difficulties.”

Richard G. Scott, “Temple Worship: The Source of Strength and Power in Times of Need,” Ensign, May 2009, 45

Boys Turn 6

Ammonous Prime and Thomblebee b-day invitation (pic only)

The boys opening presents

We had the boys birthday party on the 5th of Sept. (actual b-day the 1st). Thanks to all that showed up to make it a special day. And I'm sure the boys appreciate all the gifts they received. Thank you Thank you. Unfortunately, while the boys were opening their presents, the tore up the names of the people that gave them. So here is a public "THANK YOU" to all!

Amber had this fun idea to have the party across the street at the retention basin (mainly because she didn't want a ton of kids running around destroying our house). We came up with game kids could play and had a little carnival.

Balloon pop

There was a cake walk, ring toss, fishy game, cupcake decorating, face painting, balloon pop and soccer goal. At each station the kids would receive candy or toys to put in their gift bag. We had about 30 kids show up. Good times!

cupcake anyone?

During all of this fun I was in the backyard with 3 grills cooking a TON of food for our "party after the party," which was for family and close friends. There were around 50 that showed up for that, so you can imagine how much food there was. And the food was very good.

We had ribs, kabobs, corn, hamburgers, hot dogs, watermelon, chips and drinks.

Funny...the boys, now that they are 6, have found out some new things, like:

1. They can run faster
2. When they were 5 they were short but now they're taller
3. They're stronger

They crack me up.

The reason I haven't updated the blog is because I've been working mad overtime. Which is taking a toll on me now and had to cut back.

So, more pics and stuff to come, Amber's computer is having a little problem now but the new birthday video will be posted soon. This summer's been fun, I went camping with the boys to Sedona, went to D-backs game, went to Bounce-U, Amber cooked a bunch of banana goodies and other stuff that I will post very soon. Probably be a new post each day this week.


"Every life has peaks and shadows and times when it seems that the birds don't sing and bells don't ring. Yet in spite of discouragement and adversity, those who are happiest seem to have a way of learning from difficult times, becoming stronger, wiser, and happier as a result."

Joseph B. Wirthlin, ("Come What May, and Love It," Ensign, Nov. 2008, 26)

Yeah, Yeah, I Know......

It's been a little bit since I posted anything. The good news...There's a new post and pics coming up soon!

Boys 1st Camping Trip...with me

So we went camping to Mt. Lemon for Father's & Sons. It was the boys' first time, and the first time I've been camping since any of the kids were born. The boys had a blast! We made a camp fire in the evening and they helped gather firewood and pine needles.

We made Smores, (of course, what's a camping trip without that) and the boys learned how to roast marshmallows. After burning the marshmallows, I had to take over.

They were pretty funny when I rolled out the sleeping bags. At first, they didn't grasp the concept that you have to get INSIDE the sleeping bag. They were trying to use it as a blanket, then they laid on top waiting for me to put a blanket on them. Quite comical.

Ammon woke up in the middle of the night and said "I want a pillow" which, I was mad at myself, cause I forgot them and I wanted one too!

We went hiking to a little lake and the boys wanted to catch fish with their bare hands. There wasn't a good spot to do it cause there were people everywhere. So the boys decided to climb a mountain.

Here are the pics of our adventure. Unfortunately the pics are horrible quality cause they came from my phone, but here they are:

A spider web attached to a tree limb

Do I even need to explain this? (at the top)

Looking down from where we came

Coming down

Since we got home, they've been harassing me about when we're going to go again. Luckily, we are on the first weekend of July. Headin' to Sedona to get away before I have to watch ALL the kids for a week while Amber goes to girls camp.

Speaking of Amber, we were on our way to her sister's graduation in Mesa the other day and as we came out of Sprouts, Amber said, "Hmmm, my eye is puffing up a little bit." Well from about Higley to Lindsay her eye got really big, not only her eye lids, but there was a yellow puss ball looking thing on her eyeball.

The picture really doesn't do it justice, but we went to the Urgent Care on Gilbert road and they couldn't help us.

So we went to Banner Desert, (Amber's favorite place) and they said she had a cut on her eye. The cool part was when they put some eye drops in her eye and placed a black light over her face,

Sweet!! That was definitely worth the 4 hour wait! Anyway she had like a little hole on the side of her cornea. She didn't remember feeling anything going into her eye, it just started swelling up. Wierd.

Dude, a bunch of stuff has happened since last posting. We found a scorpion in the street in front of our house.


We ended up killing it with our secret formula Raid. It looked pregnant, either that, or it just got done eating. After we sprayed it, it started to sting itself.

Well friends, that is about it. I'll post new pics of the girls soon, since I know that's all anyone cares about anyway.

Thanks to all, as always, for your help and love. We don't know how we'd do it without all the support.


"In today's world of pop psychology, junk TV, and feel-good self-help manuals, this advice may seem counterintuitive. We are sometimes told that the answer to our ills is to look inward, to indulge ourselves, to spend first and pay later, and to satisfy our own desires even at the expense of those around us. While there are times when it is prudent to look first to our own needs, in the long run it doesn't lead to lasting happiness."

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Happiness, Your Heritage," Ensign, Nov. 2008, 119–20

Amber On The News!

Congratulations to my awesome wife!! A little late but I put a submission in and the National Maternal Society awarded Amber with the "2009 Mother of the Year" Award. Not only that but she got recognized on CNNBC. (I think she's trying to steal my spotlight). Be sure to check it out.

(On the top right hand side above our family picture)

It brings a tear to my eye. I Love You Honey!

Happy Mother's Day!


"Being a mother has never been an easy role. Some of the oldest writings in the world admonish us not to forsake the law of our mother, instruct us that a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother, and warn us not to ignore our mother when she is old (see Proverbs 1:8; 10:1; 23:22).

"The scriptures also remind us that what we learn from our mothers comprises our very core values."

(President Thomas S. Monson, "If Ye Are Prepared Ye Shall Not Fear," Ensign, November 2004, 116)

April Pics

Since we haven't posted anything for like....a month, here's a little something. first, a pic we took after church on Easter, Amber's idea. It's hard to get the girls lookin' in the same direction when YOU"RE the one takin' the picture.
Fun ones of the boys chillin' on the little lake at Anthem park


....And Faith in rare form...NOT CRYING!! Good news though, I found if i put rice cereal (I know, I know, I'm not supposed to) in her bottle, she doesn't throw up and she actually has started smiling. I think she's more satisfied with the thicker formula. Amber will thank me later.
Other than that, there's not a whole lot goin' on right now. We're still working on the house, and we're not too far from being done with the downstairs.

Amber and I got new callings. Amber is an Assistant Ward Girls Camp Director. For all you that know Amber hates to camp....this will be a fun calling. I got called to be a Ward Missionary.

Until next time..thanks to all for your love and support!


"Now, some of you may be shy by nature, perhaps feeling yourselves inadequate to respond affirmatively to a calling. Remember that this work is not yours and mine alone. It is the Lord's work, and when we are on the Lord's errand, brethren, we are entitled to the Lord's help.
Remember that the Lord will shape the back to bear the burden placed upon it."

(President Thomas S. Monson, "The Sacred Call of Service," Ensign, May 2005, 56)

Triplets Blessing Video

This is the video I had playing during the party. There are actual scenes from their birth. Don't freak out though its clean ;)

Adventures with Poop!!!!

This is Amber here. Justin thought that it would be a good idea to write this myself since it was me that had to deal with it. The kids have had a stomach virus that has given them diarrhea (I think that's how its spelled). Saturday the 28th and Sunday the 29th of March 2009 will forever be known in the Ricks household as poop weekend!!
Saturday morning: I went to wake up the girls for their breakfast and found Faith in a crib covered in poop. I mean her face,body, blankets, sheets EVERYTHING WAS COVERED WITH POOP!!!! I just wanted to curl up in a ball and pretend it didn't happen. After I gave her a bath and cleaned up the mess I finally fed the girls their breakfast. Later I decided to give Charity and Hope a bath, they were so cute splashing around in the water until Hope pooped in the water! I couldn't believe it!!!!! This isn't the solid poop I was used to cleaning off their precious backside, this was a runny, yellow, gooey, digustingly stinky pile of the must vile defecation I have ever had the unpleasant privilge of cleaning. I pulled them out of the water and cleaned it all up then gave them another bath.
Sunday Morning: I woke up to Ammon knocking gently at the door. When I answered it I noticed he was naked. He told me that he had an accident. I asked if he pee'ed in his underwear and he said, "no". I could tell by his face that it was much worse than that. So I told him to show me where he had the accident. He took my hand and led me to his room, as soon as I walked in a mighty smell kicked me in the face. Ammon took me to the bed and showed me his PJ's which of course where covered with poop. I said why didn't you go in the bathroom? He said,"I did". He then led me to the bathroom where he had pooped all over the floor and seat of the toilet. Again this was no ordinary poop. This poop morphed into something unimaginable to the human mind. At this point I am seriously considering running away to some remote Island to live my life in peace, but I cleaned it up and washed Ammon and his clothes. We were also blessing the triplets that same day and I had a mountain of things to get done in order for us to get to Mesa in time for the blessing( we decided to bless the girls in Elmwood Ward since that is where I spent the whole preganacy) Wendy (Justin's mother) made these beautiful dresses. She spent months working on them. The girls looked like angels and the blessings were very special, Justin blessed Faith, Allan (Justin's dad) blessed Hope and Ariel (Justin's grandfather) blessed Charity. Everything was going so wonderful..............until Faith pooped all over her dress!!!!!!
I hate poop :(

PLEASE HELP Margaret Manning!!

We just found out that a very very good friend of ours, Margaret Manning, has an extremely rare form of cancer (Mantle Cell Lymphoma). The family needs to raise $17,000.00 by Monday for treatment in Texas. Insurance isn't covering it because she needs the out of state treatment. If anyone can help out, please visit the site set up for Margaret. They aren't just looking for cash donations, but other things as well.

http://margaretmanning.blogspot.com/

Our prayers are with you Margaret!!

Sleeping Beauties

Amber took this shot today, and just look at the little angles.

I went with the boys to the park today and got some pics of them goofin' around..

Ammon talking in the secret pipe communicator..

Thomas climbing a tire ladder..

Ammon rock climbing..

Thomas digging up dinosaur bones..

Boys riding a jeep..don't know where they get their personality.

The park itself is pretty cool

The girls each got 3 shots today, it was their 4 month shots and the doc says they are all growing just fine.

The girls baby blessing is coming up on the 29th of March so check your emails and RSVP by Wednesday the 25th. It's gonna be a good time with lots of food and play.

Flower Power

Look what I just found growing on a bush in our backyard

Hopefully it enjoys its stay, cause I'm gonna rip it out soon. I didn't get to see the family at all on Saturday, I was awake at 4:30am to get ready for off duty at the Renaissance Festival. Then, at 2:00pm I had to go to Gold Canyon to the substation to change into by bike patrol uniform. After that, drove to Superior to do the bike patrol from 5:00pm til 1:00am Sun. We were supposed to be off at 10 that night but Superior PD found a dead body....and their whole squad had to help for whatever reason. So we got stuck taking their calls for service 'til 1. I don't know why, but Amber said I was snoring really loud after I went to bed.


Dude....c'mon, give a guy a break. Amber took all the kids to church today while I slept.

So new updates are in on the girls.
Faith - 12lbs, 3oz
Hope - 13lbs
Charity - 12lbs, 9oz
These stats were from Thursday the 12th when they went to get their RSV shots again. Amber has video of it but it won't be in this posting.

The boys are on Spring Break for 2 weeks and everyone's goin' partying while I work :(

Amber and I got new phones, thanks to Alltel, and while I was playing with mine, spike felt he needed to invade my space

Amber thought it was soooo cute. Speaking of cute, here's a pic of Hope

Amber sure does make cute babies!



"Gratitude is a mark of a noble soul and a refined character. We like to be around those who are grateful. They tend to brighten all around them. They make others feel better about themselves. They tend to be more humble, more joyful, more likable."

(Joseph B. Wirthlin, "Live in Thanksgiving Daily," Ensign, Sept. 2001, 8)

Amber must not be feeling well, you'll see why

So I woke up from a nap and I found Amber making this.

Amber hasn't really been into "makin' stuff" so I took her temp. She was running a creative temperature of about 300 degrees! She made this stuff to put on the girls and this is what they look like

FaithHope

Charity

Hafta admit, they're lookin' pretty cute. And I don't use that word very often....you know...."cute." Guys don't really talk like that. Speakin' of guys, I found a black widow in our garage and I had to show the boys. I had to show them that touching a black widow will kill them. Then I killed the spider, I think they got the picture. Unfortunaltely I didn't get a pic of it. I made sure to give it a bath in poison and it would've turned out good. Maybe next time. I looked where the spider came from and I noticed a web with about 50 little spiders crawling on it. Needless to say they did not have a very long life span. That's what we get for livin' out in, what some like to call, BFE! Even though it's not....kinda....whatever.


"..Childlike faith in the perfect love of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will 'divide asunder' (Helaman 3:29) Satan's snares of inadequacy, imperfection, and guilt."
(Anthony D. Perkins, "The Great and Wonderful Love," Ensign, Nov. 2006, 77)

Valentine's Day....a little late

Since my wife is Superwoman, I decided to give her a Super Valentine's Day. First, on the 10th, I gave her a laptop so she can edit videos on site. Second, on the 12th, 2 dozen roses(the pic came out real nice). Third, on the 13th, we went to Hard Rock cafe in Phoenix for Valentine's and afterward we went to the Jim Brickman concert at the Orphium Theatre. I know, now all the wives out there don't be talkin' bad about your men cause they only gave you 1 box of chocolates, or just a diamond ring or something small like that. This was kind of a make up for the other Valentine's that we didn't do anything. And she looked very pretty in pink the night of the concert. I wanted to take pics but Amber didn't want me to. I was crazy downtown cause the NBA Block Party was goin' on and parking near it was 30 to 45 bucks. There was no way we were payin' that!

We has a nurse come over to the house and check up on the girls. They are doing great! The nirse said the girls are sucking there thumbs because they are teething.....Amber found a slight tooth protrusion of the gum line in one of the girls mouths. Hope was eating slow so I cut a bigger hole in her nipple. Now she can almost finish before Charity. Hope and Charity smile and laugh a lot now, and Faith.....Faith likes to sit in her rocker and smile at the red Cinnabon looking thing that dangles down. Amber says she flirts with it. And it must be flirting back cause she smiles. Pretty funny.

Awesome Game!

Hate to say it but, I told ya so! What a great game. And what a glorious victory. Jason & Dani came over to watch with us and surprised us with these outfits for the girls.

Pretty funny, with their birth date on the back of the shirt. I cropped and edited the pics so when you expand them they look grainy :( The boys, during the game kept saying "Go number 7" mind you I did not teach them that. Who is number 7 you ask? If you were a Steelers fan you would know. Here he is, the man of the hour, Ben Roethlisberger.


Ammon and Thomas definitely have the right idea. Well, that's it just a little cardinals rippin' and payin' tribute to a REAL team!