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!

Bummer

Well we took Hope to the Doctor yesterday and found out she has Bronchiolitis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronchiolitis). So she's getting the breathing treatments. That means the blessing and party has been canceled for now. We will probably bless them in April when RSV season is over, that way there's little risk. New pics of the girls are posted on the right side now. Charity looks funny smilin' like that, she smiles often. It's amazing how smart the boys get everyday. They come home and say the craziest stuff. I was playing Xbox for a little bit last night and Thomas said "Daddy's checkin' it out" pretty funny. I posted new pics of the girls on the right side.

Here's the boys and I on the trampoline, good times

Alright for all you Halo fans, you're gonna wanna hear this. The boys have been playing the first Halo before the bus picks them up. Anyway, they've been talking all week about how they need to save Captain Keys. So the Flood gets introduced and they're so excited to save him. Well, we all know what happens, Captain Keys is not able to be saved because he's transformed into the flood. And in order to get the CNI Transponder you have to punch the blob that is Keys, in the face and it makes a 'SQUISH' sound. The boys, who long anticipated the rescue of Keys, are heartbroken and start to cry! I was at work and Amber, the fragile soul that she is, felt bad that she would subject our sons to the shocking (and gross) reality of Keys' fate. Amber had to explain to the boys that "In order for Keys to be nice, they had to punch him in the face." As the boys were running to the bus stop, they shouted "Captain Keys Died!" all the way, letting the world know of the horror and the world coming to an end.

.................And they say video games don't teach anything!

Super Bowl Bound!

First just let me say "Go Steelers," we're not jumpin on the Cards bandwagon, gotta stay loyal.

We're blessing the babies on Superbowl Sunday and having a party afterward. There should be plenty of pictures of that. It seems like I'm always apologizing for not posting all the time. I've been working a ton lately and I just switched shifts to M-F 0600-1400. Right now it's killing me cause I like having the 3 days off. I got radar certified a couple of weeks ago. I will be going to an HGN (Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus) class in Feb. HGN is the test that you see where the cop holds up a pen and looks into your eyes and sees all your guilty sins and deepest darkest secrets. then in March, I will be attending a Spanish in Law Enforcement class, should be fun.

Amber has been doing great and looking hotter than ever! She's becoming quite the Betty Crocker (thanks to me not her mother). Now that she knows how to cook, I don't have to ;) Yes, honey, I'm just kidding. Amber has been doing weddings, she did one in Dec. she has one in Feb. and April I think. She has also learned how to feed all three babies at the same time!!! It's crazy but I took a picture for those non-believers.

She has to be a super hero in disguise!

Ammon and Thomas have been sick for the past couple of days. They have found some new friends a couple of houses down from us and I have become friends with their dad. We were watching a movie the other day and Thomas was saying the letters of the title. They are doing flips on the trampoline now and love it when Amber and I jump on there with them.

Faith, Hope and Charity are doing great. Hope has had a little cough with a little wheezing so we're taking her to the doctor. First time one of the girls will go to the Pediatrician for being sick. Hope's head is also looking a little big so we'll get that checked out. Hopefully she doesn't have Hydrocephalus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrocephalus). We've been teaching the girls how to sit up. They've been kinda crawling, they just kinda scoot on their tummys. They also have been rolling over occasionally.

The house renovations will begin soon and we will post our extreme makeover pics.

As always...thank you to everyone for your support, thoughts and prayers. We are lucky to have good friends and family

Happy New Year!!

We have new weights for the babies, they were weighed on the 30th.
Faith - 9lbs 3oz
Hope - 10lbs 3oz
Charity - 9lbs 13oz

Here is another Christmas elf video we made..it's pretty funny, as was the last one.



Our Xbox 360 needed some repairs yesterday, and the guy that did it (he also does mods) was awesome and reasonably priced. If anyone wants his number just email me and I'll send it to you.

Amber's been busy with some weddings and has a couple coming up at the beginning of this year. She's really doing a good job and getting a lot of positive feedback. Every time I watch her newest video, I'm amazed. I have the best wife! The boys start school again on the 2nd, but then have the weekend off (kinda weird). I'm sure they're tired of hangin' around the house by now. They were jumping on the trampoline that Santa got for them and were yelling at the golfers teeing off. I also heard them yelling at some kids and inviting them over to jump on the tramp. They definitely keep life interesting.

For Family Home Evening last week we all played Halo 3 for our game. We all had fun!



"Our families need the peace of God in their lives, and if we can't or won't invite the Lord into our lives, then our families become a reflection of our own turmoil. Women are asked to be nurturers to their families, but we must also be firm; we must be the hard rock footings on which our homes can stand. Our families need us to speak peace to them, just as the Lord speaks peace to us. Our homes need to be places where our families and friends want to be, where all who enter our homes can draw strength and courage to face the challenges of living in an increasingly wicked world. Our children need to hear us 'talk of Christ, . . .rejoice in Christ, [and] preach of Christ' (2 Nephi 25:26) so that they may know to what source they can look for the peace that 'passeth all understanding' (Philippians 4:7)."


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