Merry Christmas!!

Yeah I know it's been a month since I've posted something and I just want to say......Get over it!! This is a funny little clip of the kids. We made another one doing a Christmas Disco dance, we have them both on a dvd now so we can make copies. The quality isn't that good on the upload unfortunately.

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and we appreciate everyone's support. We have new weights for the girls (but it's from the 5th hehe)

Faith 7lbs 15oz
Hope 8lbs 13oz
Charity 8lbs 11oz

The girls will get weighed again on the 30th so I will post 'em then.

The boys will go back to school on the 2nd of Jan. You know that Christmas song that says, sing it with me, "And mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again.." Yes, well I didn't learn to appreciate that line until the boys started school this year. As a kid I hated that line, as a parent....well you know how it is. The boys are awesome though, we couldn't ask for better boys. During the break they've been sharpening their skills at Halo 3 and counting their presents (since they know how to spell their names now).

The girls are staring to lift themselves up on their hands, roll over, and sleep through the night. HARK THE HEROLD ANGELS SING!!

Next entry will be on my birthday Dec. 26th



"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace' (Isa. 9:6)."

Happy Thanksgiving!!

What a beautiful rainy day, it smells great! Hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving, even though the Christmas celebration started the day after Halloween this year!! Here's a little something to commemorate this holiday.

Here's a couple of pics to calm the mob for a little bit:

Starting from top - Charity, Hope, Faith
The girls were weighed the other day and the weights are......drum roll please....
Faith - 7lbs 9oz
Hope - 8lbs 7oz
Charity - 8lbs 5oz
Yeah, I know, they're huge now!!


Here's our goofy boys.....I don't know where they get it from.

"As we study and ponder, we are entitled to the promptings of the Spirit, and as we grow more attentive to these promptings, we come to recognize each day the workings of the Lord in our lives. We will find Him, as Elder Neal A. Maxwell stated, 'in the details of our lives'
("Becoming a Disciple," Ensign, June 1996, 19). And when that recognition comes, we feel His peace and recognize that we are truly encircled in the arms of His love."

(Kathleen H. Hughes, "Remembering the Lord's Love," Ensign, Nov. 2006, 112)

Happy Halloween/New House

Here were the costumes for the family this year. Unfortunately my costume was packed up and Amber didn't dress up since she had just returned home from the hospital for the final time.

There are plenty of pics to post and we keep taking new pics and vids. It's never ending. We have tons of pics to sort through so it's takin' awhile to post 'em.

We moved into our new home on the 1st of November. It's on the border of Queen Creek and Florence. We love it out here. I will post pics of the house and the remodeling. So far We've met another Pinal County Deputy, Florence PD officer, the Sheriff's secretaty, 3 CCA officers and a Detention officer all who live either next door to us or a few houses down.

Everyone is doing great, the girls are feeding about every 5 hours in the night, every 4 during the day. Hopefully in 3 weeks or so, they will be sleeping through the night. Amber still refuses to take the girls out (with RSV season especially) until about February. Amber is now down to 140lbs, only 5 lbs away from her pre-twin birth weight. She is very excited now that she's fitting into regular clothes. I go back to work around the 30th. of Nov. (thank goodness!!)

The boys attend year-round school in Anthem and go to all day Kindergarden. They are loving it and are learning a ton. They are a little behind the other students, since they started in July, but they are learining well.

Live Well, Love Much, Laugh Often!

Just A Taste

This is a 1:00am feeding of the girls. We messed with Charity a little bit. Hope had to put her 2 cents in as well. Anyway, we have lots of pics and I'm just trying to find the best way to post them. Everyone is doing fantastic and weights are as follows:
Charity - 7lbs. 9oz.
Hope - 7lbs. 9oz.
Faith - 6lbs 11oz.

More to come....

Coming Soon

Ladies and Gentlemen...

There are many experiences soon to come. Please be patient as we update the blog. Thanks

Amber - World Record Hospital Stay

Well, Amber should be coming home tomorrow if there's no hick-ups. The operation went well and they drained 2 liters of blood from her hematoma. The docs installed drains in each side to help release any excess. Now Amber's got 2 little "grenades" on her side. Thanks to all the thoughts, prayers and fasting for the operation. If Amber still had a fever after the operation, then they would've opened her up from "nose to toes." She found out that she has a blood clot in each arm, I think it's due to the millions of pokes she's had in the past 2 weeks. The girls are doing very well and hopefully should be coming home within a week. Hope and Charity are over 4lbs and Faith is just shy. They all are maintaining their own body temperatures and Charity and Hope are eating about half their feedings from bottles. We gave Faith a blessing the other night, (my father and I each put 2 lingers on her head..pretty funny) cause she was having a little trouble keeping food in. They decided not to feed her and give her tummy a break. She's doing a lot better. I know, everyone wants to see more pics, and there will be more pics as soon as I remember to get the SD card from the camera in Amber's hospital room. Thanks again to everyone for helping and caring!


"And see that ye have Faith, Hope, ad Charity, and then ye will always abound in good works."
- Alma 7:24

Amber is back in ICU

Amber will have surgery on Sunday for her........actually we don't know exactly and the doctors don't know why. All we know is that she has had a fever since Fri. night and it's not a good combination with the excess blood (about 3 liters) that is still inside her body. It's a good combination for infection, which is kinda what they think she has. If you say prayers....please include Amber. Thank you everyone for your support and thoughts!!

Amber Has Returned.....Home

Yes that's right, Amber came home yesterday and is doing great. She will have about a 2 month recovery and a lot of bruising. The girls are still in the hospital and will be for another week or so. They are doing great!! It's pretty amazing that babies can survive at that size. To add to the craziness, we will be moving within the month. Thanks again to everyone's thoughts and prayers....it's comforting to know that that we have great friends and family!!


"The Savior's invitation is clear and direct, and importantly for us, it is constant: 'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden. . . . Take my yoke upon you, . . . for . . . my burden is light'
(Matthew 11:28-30). This is the Lord's promise to me and to you.

"My prayer for each of us is that we will remember when the Lord has spoken His peace to us and has encircled us in the arms of His love. And just as important, will you, if you haven't felt that love for a while, seek to see it and feel it as you go about the ordinary tasks of your life. As you do this, over the days and months and years of your life, the memories of those interactions with the Lord will become sweet gifts to open a second time--or many times--to bolster
you when life is difficult.

" 'Peace I give unto you,' the Lord promises, 'not as the world giveth, give I unto you' (John 14:27). Peace. Strength. It is what we long for and what is possible. We only need to turn toward His reaching arms."

(Kathleen H. Hughes, "Remembering the Lord's Love," Ensign, Nov. 2006, 112)

Seinfeld Bus Tour

While Amber was in the Hospital sleeping and recovering I took the Boys to Chase field to see the Seinfeld tour bus. It was pretty cool..although some people would rather play nerdy card games instead of going to support your favorite show of ALL TIME!!! (inside joke and when he reads it he's gonna laugh and call me a punk) Essentially, they want to reach a whole new generation of Seinfeld viewers. The gave away character magnets Seinfeld jump drives, shirts, candy from the show. You could try and put a titleist into a whale's blowhole for a prize. There was a replica of the dinner where they served frozen yogurt. (the pic didn't turn out very good)


They had a lot of memorable items from the show



And I ate a black and white cookie! surprisingly it did not give me indigestion.





We had a good time. And after, we went to see Amber and the babies. Amber is out of ICU now and back in her old room B135 for those that want to visit. Her room phone number is 480-512-4495. The doctors said that she is probably looking at a 2 month recovery and a lot of bruising. She's a lot more responsive and will be allowed to go see the babies today, and I think they are going to try and have her walk a little bit. She will accept any and all visitors that want to stop by. She also wanted me to put in here that she has the best husband ever!! She also wishes to thank everyone for prayers and support.


"How wonderful that we have earned the trust of God! He trusts you! He trusts me! When we receive the priesthood, we do so by covenant. A covenant is a mutual promise. He promises to bless us on certain conditions. We promise to fulfill those conditions. As we do so, the Lord always keeps His word and gives us the blessing. Usually He gives us more than agreed. He is
very generous."

(Stanley G. Ellis, "He Trusts Us!" Ensign, Nov. 2006, 51)

Hospital Pics

Here's Amber showing off her belly before the c-section, she did very well carrying the triples.


That think looks like it's gonna fall off!


Me showing off my cool wanna be doctor attire, this will be my Halloween costume this year, maybe with a skeleton mask or something.


Here is Faith, Hope and Charity for your viewing pleasure. They are doing just fine...just not very exciting right now (I say, others would be disagreeing with me you know who you are). The docs say that the babies are developed more than 32 week babies. I think the 4,000 calories a day really helped that along.




"Be there for your children. Sit on the bed and enjoy the late-night talks--try to stay awake! Pray for the Lord to inspire you. Forgive often. Choose your battles. Testify frequently of
Jesus Christ and His goodness and of the Restoration. And most of all, let them know of your trust in the Lord."

(Bonnie D. Parkin, "Sweet Moments," Ensign, Nov. 2005, 109)

Amber in ICU

Amber went to see the babes after her recovery period. She ended up passing out up in NIC-U. Found out she was bleeding internally and gave her 4 pints of blood. Later last night they gave her 2 more. At about 0130 they sent her in for minor surgery to try and cauterize the artery that was bleeding. The operation was a success but there is still coagulated blood internally. Once Amber has been stabilized for awhile they will go and remove the internal blood. She is doing a lot better now but altogether needed about 12 pints of blood. I got home and went to bed at about 0600. Talked to her this morning and she says she feels a ton better. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. I know it's a big reason why she's doing better.

Babies are all breathing room air right now and doc said that they could possibly go home in a week!!!

Pretty crazy night.

The girls want to come out and play!

Faith, Hope & Charity just couldn't wait!! Unfortunately Amber's body wasn't handling the pregnancy well and the doctors decided to deliver.
Faith was 3lbs, 8.6oz
Hope was 3lbs, 8.1 oz
Charity was 3lbs, 11.8 oz
They were born at approximately 10:29am. Everyone is doing just fine, Hope is breathing on her own right now. Kudos to Amber....she did a great job. Pics to follow.

Amber Admitted

As of last night, they're not letting Amber come home until the babies are born. Doctors said she has too much protein in her urine. In fact they said that there is a good chance that the babies will be delivered this week. Luckily she isn't dilated, it's just the preeclampsia that's getting worse.......don't ask me what that is, Amber can explain it to you. Or check out the link http://www.preeclampsia.org/about.asp, that can help those that are curious.

The boys went to see Amber the other night. They've been spending the night at grandparents (thank you soooo much!!) so I can go to work. Ammon & Thomas built "Amber's hospital" this morning. It was pretty funny. Thomas fed Spike this morning and said "sorry mommy is in the hostible." Lots of pictures soon to come.

We are in the process of buying a house out on the border of Florence and Queen Creek (it's a Florence address) so it just adds to the stess level. The closing date is the 27th of October or sooner. The home inspection is this week...the funny thing is that Amber hasn't even been in the house because she's been on bedrest. Some think we're crazy, but, that's us!! :)


.....The Atonement also gives us the strength to endure 'pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind,' because our Savior also took upon Him 'the pains and the sicknesses of his people'
(Dallin H. Oaks, "He Heals the Heavy Laden," Ensign, Nov. 2006, 9)

Belly Dance

We were at one of many doctors appointments a couple of weeks ago and Amber starting doing this dance. It was so funny I had to take a little video. She was 26 weeks then and 28 weeks now. only 5 and 1/2 weeks to go til 34 weeks and...............BABY TIME!!

Birthday Boys!

We had a great B-day!! Amber wanted to have a small party because of her condition. This year was a Superman theme. We had family and a few friends over (sorry I promise we will have a big one next year). We've always wanted to make our kids b-days a big deal, but I gotta do what the boss wants...especially when she's pregnant and her hormone level is 3 times what it normally is. LOOK OUT!! She can talk a good game, but she's not very agile. By the way, if you haven't seen the boys 4th year video, make sure to do so. Amber has been very creative with her talents and had started making these birthday videos for the boys that we show at the party. Speaking of Amber, she's doing very well. The doctors are very impressed with how well she has taken care of herself.

I got the boys these cool Nerf guns and we had a small gun fight during the party. Afterwords, when I was working on the remodel of the bathroom, I heard Amber say "Justin come here quick!" When I got to the couch where she was sitting, Amber pointed out her glasses.


Thomas had hit her from about 27 feet. That's my boy!! Not to mention that the guns are really cool. By brother-in-law and I had a good time with them. Well, I had to test them out to make sure they were safe to use. It's all about gun safety! ;)

I start my new schedule on the 8th of Sept. It's the schedule I've always wanted. 1400-2400 Thurs.-Sun. It's a lot more conducive to family life for the moment. Actually, I will be taking a 6 week "vacation" when the triples are born and hopefully..........just maybe........Amber will not wake me up in the middle of the night to feed the babies. Thank you all for the gifts, the boys loved them all. And as always....Thanks for everyone who has continued to show love and support to us during this time. We love you all!!


"There are times when you are fearful, when the stress and busyness of life seem to overwhelm you, when you feel adrift from the Spirit. Perhaps you even feel as though you have been abandoned. When I encounter those feelings, the best antidote is my memory of the moments when Christ's peace has come to strengthen me. . . . I invite you to remember with me what it is to feel the Lord's love in your life and to feel encircled in His arms."

(Kathleen H. Hughes, "Remembering the Lord's Love," Ensign, Nov. 2006, 111)

Brotherly Love!

Amber finished the boys' 4th year birthday video, check it out, it's pretty good. Amber just keeps getting better. She's got several weddings coming up at the end of this year and the beginning of next-including a Greek wedding. OPA! That will be interesting. Well the construction continues at the Ricks/Williams home. Oh, just an update, we will not be posting video of us plowing through the flooded areas like I said. They didn't turn out very well. This Thursday Amber will have 7 weeks left until she's 34 weeks. HURRY UP!! I want my wife back :( Amber will update the care pages with the latest on that. I'm taking 6 weeks off when the babies are born and we are having a Halloween party at our house. I was at bicycle patrol academy almost all last week and now a certified bike cop. I'm getting pictures sent to me that I will post on the Police Corner. Don't worry, the pictures are coming of the renovations of this house. Today we are redoing some things in the guest bathroom.


The Olympics have been very inspiring this year despite the judges on some of the events. It's amazing to watch and motivational to see the determination of all athletes-GO MICHAEL PHELPS!

Big Truck

I found these in Amber's phone and thought I would post 'em even though they are old. This was taken the day after Thanksgiving '07 when I surprised Amber with "her" new car. Nissan Armada. I know all the ladies are jealous cause Amber is drivin' a big car. It's a good thing we got it too cause our family is git'n huge!! Anyway, this truck was inside and the boys wanted to play in it so I took a couple of shots with the camera phone. I hate the quality of camera phones and life is so fun that sometimes I think I should always carry a camera to capture the moments. The remodel of the house is going very slow now that Amber has been prego. The cabinets got redone and they look awesome! A big "thank you" to all those that have helped and continue to help with the long, tedious process. I'll post some pics of the stuff we've done at a later time. It's never ending! I get off probation with Pinal County on the 30th of July!! Hooray! I won't be the FNG anymore. Yes FNG even though there are several of us. What? you don't know what FNG is? Well I'll tell ya. It stnads for Freakin' New Guy (in the modest way). Whenever someone made a mistake they would say "those FNG's" It was funny. Now a new batch has come to take over the prestigious title of FNG's. It's been raining cats and dogs today and because of the high clearance on the Armada..we went driving through the flooded areas! I know what you're saying....."Of course, you guys are crazy" and you are right. (Video coming soon) Hope everyone had a great 4th of July, the boys did, they went to Heber to see fireworks with Amber's family. She was resting and I was working. I can't take any vacation time 'til my probation is up..such is life. Thank you all for your love and support!!

"'Charity is the pure love of Christ' (Moroni 7:47).
The Savior exemplified that love and taught it even as He was tormented by
those who despised and hated Him."

Excited for School

I think Ammon and Thomas are excited for school. They are running around the house with there backpacks on. They don't start school 'til August, which will be a little relief for Amber. We're in the process of cleaning up our credit so we can buy a house. Oh, we will not be buying a home in Queen Creek!!! The whole world has already moved there, and it's a pain getting in and out of there. Amber's baby shower is coming up on the 7th of June and she's made up this "3 Peas In My Pod" thing. it's pretty funny. We've been really blessed. I'm trying to get hired with Mesa PD, but the process is a.........you know what!! I've had my application in, as a lateral mind you, since the middle of December. Holy crap!!! Can they go any slower! And, every time I get a call from them wanting more information, i feel like I'm being interrogated. Maybe it's not worth the hassle, we'll see. Anyway, we're all doing well and healthy over here. We have a lot of support from family and friends. We couldn't ask for anything more than what we have.....other than a house of our own. I received a calling to be a 16 yr. old teacher in Sunday School. I'm excited about that, it will be nice to get a break from Primary (which Amber & I LOVED!!). It's always nice to have a little change.

The X Files Movie 2

It's about time for all those X Files fans out there, the second movie is coming out on July 25th 2008. One of the best kept secrets in Hollywood!!!

We got a 3D ultrasound done on the girls last week and I have to say....the technology is amazing! Amber will post them on the Care Pages since this blog isn't made for the "baby talk" just updates on the family and THE X FILES MOVIE!!

I've posted "The Police Corner" for those that want to know what happens to me while on duty! It's still in the works as well. We are doing well, just hangin' in there as Amber is anticipating bed rest very soon. But we're done having kids now, as long as all goes well. At least when we retire in 20 years, all the kids will be at least 20 yrs old.

Amber's Care Pages

Just so everyone knows, to find updates on the triplets click on the link "Care Pages"
You have to register, but it's private so your info won't get sold and you won't get junk mail. When Amber updates the page, you'll get an email. The blog is coming together. If anyone has any suggestions on what to put or how to customize better, let me know.

WHAT?!

What the crap do I do. Thanks to Bryan & Michelle I thought I'd try this "blog @#$%" Anyway, it's gonna take us a while to figure this out, but when we do...............it's gonna ROCK!!