Happy Easter

Hi, I'm so busy blogging for the Elders and Sisters in the family, I never update my own blog!

Things are going well for this little Ricks family, we're just doing the same old same old.

Tanner was gone for 2 weeks in March for his annual training for the National Guard, he was only in Harriman, but it felt like he was SO FAR away and that he would NEVER be back home! We really missed him! My kiddos are getting SO big and I keep telling them to stop growing because it makes me sad to think that this phase will be over so soon.

Tatem started speech therapy last week and sadly, it didn't go well. He got hysterical and cried his heart out and he is so embarrassed he can't talk. It really breaks my heart and I just wish I could take this trial away from him. He's only 2 and I wish life could just be easy for someone that little. I am just starting to change my prayers from asking Heavenly Father to help him talk, to comforting him and helping to lift the burdon, he'll learn at his own pace. He's very smart, and makes me laugh all of the time. He's my little buddy and I feel VERY lucky and blessed to be his momma. He brings a light to our home no one else could.

Emerson is a big blessing herself. We love her SO MUCH! She is my baby rolling pin, and instead of crawling where she wants to go, she just rolls there. She loves playing with cords, which is dangerous, but it's her one true love. So Daddy provides supervised cord time which is pretty cute. She is 7 months old and so big. It is a lot of fun to watch my blue eyed angel grow.

Other than that, not much is happening in the Ricks home, we're just happy where we are and feel blessed to have so much fun together!



Valentines Week

Hello everyone! Here's a quick update on the Ricks family...

 

Tatem is still struggling with his speech but we're continuing to get him help and work with him. Right now, we're working with Primary Children's Rehab to start speech therapy and we have switched helpers through DDI Vantage to see if a different personality works better with him. Other than that, he's our same old busy Tatem. He switched nursery leaders at church and he LOVES his new leaders. He can't wait to leave sacrament meeting to go to nursery and his leaders are so loving and patient with him. We're so grateful to have such good leaders for him, for us nursery is one of the most important callings in the church.

 

Emerson is getting so big and doing so well. She's a champ at eating her baby food and can sit up all by herself. What's funny is she can sit and roll from her tummy to her back but when she tries to roll back over onto her tummy from her back she just spins in circles so we're working on it! She's just as chatty as Tatem, they might just learn how to talk together. She's an excellent sleeper, kisser and little sister. She makes sure to pester Tatem as much as she can! She touches his toy Mater, she pulls his hair and she splashes him in the tub! Gotta love sisterly love.

 

Tanner and I are great too! Tanner's still working on school and enjoying his job, and I'm enjoying being with the kiddos and looking into ways to start teaching parenting classes a little bit to have some mommy time, and keep up to date with my degree!

Overall, all is good here at the Ricks home!

 Tatem loved Discovery Gateway Children's Museum.

 

Sorry it's sideways, here's a video of Tatem playing with is favorite thing at Discovery Gateway, it showed how wind works and it was so fun to him!



Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Everything in Between!

I'm hoping this post finds you all merry and bright and having had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We have had a lot of fun ourselves these passed couple of weeks!

Here's the breakdown:

Christmas:

1. Our babies were spoiled! Tatem got a HUGE Mater he can drive, lots of toys and a tablet, Emerson got a tummy time mat and lots of toys and clothes.

2. Tanner got his much loved and desired punching bag and accessories, with some clothes and other odds and ends.

3. Tanner spoiled me with the wedding band I have wanted FOREVER! We were too poor when we first got married to buy one.

4. Our parents and grandparents spoiled us too! And our gift for our parents is still on backorder so I guess our Christmas will live on when it finally arrives! (We felt pretty bad about it come Christmas day!)

5. We spent TONS of time with everyone we love; Christmas Eve was with my family and Tanner's family at our home. It was SO much fun, hopefully it can become a tradition! Christmas day we spent with both families and with the Groesbecks at a local Church building, it was so fun to be together.

6. Read about Elder Haddon's Christmas at: www.eldertysonhaddon.blogspot.com

New Years:

1. Had a lot of fun with our kiddos and friends' house from our previous ward, so far we don't have party friends in this ward...in fact, we tried to have an elder's quorum party here and only 3 people came...so sad because we're SO fun!

In Betweens:

1. Tanner took this last week off (new years week) and it was SO fun! We went to the Discovery Gateway Children's museum, went on a date while Grandma and Grandpa H kept the kiddos, and just enjoyed our family! I wish we could have a week off more often!

We feel so blessed this Christmas season, we really enjoy where we are in our family right now and we're keeping busy....Tanner starts some classes again in a couple of weeks, and Emerson is getting HUGE! She's trying to roll over, and eating big girl food! It's so fun having a baby around!Tatem is pretty big himself, he starts speech therapy (hopefully) in Taylorsville on Monday, and we're excited to get him the help he needs with his speech and anxiety! We love him, and he is so funny and a blast to have around!



Missionaries

Look at all this posting I've done lately! Don't get use to it! There's no way I'll be able to keep this up!

 

As you probably already know, Ty left on his mission about three weeks ago, and is doing well. You can keep up with him at:

 

www.eldertysonhaddon.blogspot.com

 

We're trying to post weekly when we get his letters and emails. So far he's had to adjust to a lot of things but he's getting the hang of it and enjoying it.

 

Tanner's sister, Kinzi got her call the same day Ty reported to the MTC, she is called to serve in the Ireland/Scottland English Speaking Mission and reports to the MTC on March 27th. She seems both excited and nervous which is to be expected.

 

I've been keeping busy with the kids and lately have been doing the advertisement for My Best Friend's Closet, a store owned by my Mom and Mother In Law's friend Jill in Tooele. It has been fun and keeps me busy. I do their facebook and email right now. (Like us on Facebook please!)

 

Other than that, everything is pretty much the same old thing. Kids are getting big and a lot of fun and we're looking forward to our first Christmas in this house and more importantly our first Christmas with baby Emerson!

 

 Emy at Halloween, just got this picture from my mom.

 Searched high and low for a coat to fit Emy and this is the best we did, still a little too big I'd say.

This was at the mall with our last family outing with Ty before he left. He's an awesome uncle!



Nothing New...

We don't have much going on here, but there's lots happening with our siblings...

Ty leaves 8 days from today (his 19th birthday!!) He's excited and nervous, and to be honest, so are we! But we all know he'll do great! You can assure yourself that he'll play hard and work about ten times harder. We are lucky to have him as a brother and uncle!

Tanner's sister Kinzi also turned in her mission papers today! She turns 19 in February and we're excited for her! We'll keep you posted when she gets her call!

While I'm doing a sibling shout out, I must mention Hunter! He's not leaving on a mission but he still deserves some recognition for being an awesome uncle and brother! He's a great helper and we love having him around!

Ok, here are the pics!

Tatem gets a little personal with the kisses but we're just glad he loves his baby!

Awww...except it's naught to have a phone out at church even if it's before the meeting starts!

oh yeah, I did finally get my diploma, this is the 5 second graduation ceremony/photo op! I graduated a week before Em was born, but just now got the paper!

Tate's two favorite things: Grandma and Grandpa's Tramp and Mater (who he stole from Grandma Ricks) Mater sleeps with him, eats with him, bathes with him...try putting mater through a sleeve, it's not for the faint of heart!

Tate loves to hold Emers, he doesn't even mind if she cries. He just pats her belly to try to calm her down!

Ok not the cutest picture but I'm not smart enough to figure out how to delete it! Sorry everyone! Look away!

Finally Fall!

It has been a long, busy summer and now it's finally fall! Fall's my favorite time of year because I think it's SO pretty, and after just having a baby, I'm looking forward to wearing bulky clothing to hide a little something something if you catch my drift!

Things are going well at the Ricks household, Emerson is almost two months old and she's super cute and super chubby! We love it! She's so much fun to dress up! Tatem loves his baby sister; he always wants to hold her and kiss her and as of yesterday, he's been consistantly calling her "GG" which I'm not sure what exactly that means, but it's pretty cute that he has something he calls his baby!

Tatem is still struggling with his speech so last week he had a development evaluation and was found on track in many areas but very behind in his communication so he'll be starting weekly speech therapy very soon. He is however getting better already so we're not too worried...yet. His favorite TV show is "Super Why" it's all about the alphabet and now he is obsessed with letters. Everywhere he sees a letter he gets super excited. He knows 11 letters names and loves to practice saying them. He might not know what a ball is but he knows "D dad!" and "G go!" So I guess that's something. We recorded a video of him saying his letters but upon review, I cannot post it because I look like I'm still expecting Emy. Bad angles, couldn't possibly be reality!

In other news, my little Bro Tyson just got his mission call last week to Sweden! He leaves November 14th and is so excited and probably nervous. We're so excited for him! He's going to do great! I'll try to post updates on how he's doing out there. So, before he leaves we wanted to go get some fun family pictures, these are literally the ONLY ones that turned out, thanks to my super photogenic children...maybe luck wasn't on our side because we took them inbetween conference sessions on Sunday! Ooops. But we did still watch conference in our defense!
(Sad no pictures of Tan's brother Dallin)

I hope you all are doing well!