Visit to Chi-Chi for Chee-Chee

Ryan called a few weeks back and wondered if I would be willing to come out to Chi-Chi (Chicago) and surprise Chee-Chee (Rachel) for her bday....I had to think for about 2 seconds and was of course up for the challenge.

So, Mason and I packed up and headed for Chicago. We arrived and Ryan pulled up to the house and asked Chee-Chee if she wanter her present early...me and Mason snuck behind her and surprised her.

It was so fun to see my Cheechers! I love that sister of mine so much! We always have such a fun time together, never a dull moment. We talked that night about the weekend goals and what she wanted to do while I was there. A few years back, the Gonzo's and Ray's went to Phoenix for Tio and Tio to see the Phoenix Open. Cheechers and I had a goal to visit as many Ross (Dress for Less) stores that we could possibly get to that weekend. I don't remember the exact total, but we were dead tired by the end of the trip. So, we decided to do something similar. Since there are no Ross stores in Chicago, we picked Target.

Ryan watched the kiddies for us all day as we traveled in a blizzard to a bunch of Targets. We had it down like clockwork...actually we gave ourselves about 20 minutes in each store. Some stores got a little more time...some less. We also ate at Sensational Bites and had us some yummy treats there. Anyone who watches The Biggest Loser may remember that bakery from when Bernie was on the show. That was his hangout, there are pictures of him all over the bakery.

Thanks to Cheechers new GPS system, along with his sexy voice, Roberto, led us to the quickest path to each and every Target. I feel I need to take a minute and give a shout out to the Targets in Chicago. EVERY stinking time I am out there I go to Target. They seriously have the best deals out there. Our greatest find this time was kids clothes 75% off PLUS an additional 30% off that price. Lets just say I had to borrow one of Cheechers HUGE suitcases to come home with. We were also after these way cute potted twig plants...and yes, I even brought about 10 of them home with me.

We had such a great time with Cheechers and the Twinnies. Holland, Ethan and Mason were such Troopers, we hauled them with us a couple of nights in freezing weather just to hit more Targets. We let them loose in the store and got quite a few stares by people who thought we were terrible Mom's for letting our kids play in the cloth racks. But seriously, we didn't care. As long as we could hear them and their horsie noises, we were all fine.

I documented all our stops that day at each and every Target, for posterities sake. Most of the pictures look exactly the same...but don't let that fool you, they are ALL different Targets.

Documentation...proof that it happened

Target #1



Target #2


Target #3

Target #4

Target #5

Target #6

Target #7

Me, Pat & Cheechers. Pat had the cutest helmet of hair...she was so nice to us

Our Stash

Happy Bday Cheechers!

Holland, Ethan & Mason

Chuck & Rosie

Kung Fu Pandas

Right after I ran over Ethan-Peathan's little hand...so sad


Mason and I were sad to come home because we just love being with our Cheechers and Twinnies (and Ryan).

We love you Cheechers! We are glad we could spend your 32nd bday with you!

BFF's go to Vegas!

Leo, Me, Jaime & Danny

Well, where do I start? Leo and I just returned from Sin City and had an absolute blast! Leo and Danny planned a secret getaway/late birthday present for Jaime and I and surprised us with a 4 day weekend with no kids. I was so excited to get away and have a few days to myself, but I was even more excited that we would be going with the Summerhays! (I don't know how to pluralize that word..even worse, I don't know how to pluralize Gonzalez)

Now, Vegas has never been my favorite place to vacation, but I must say, I was very, very impressed. We stayed off the strip, which is the key...and lived in a condo for those 4 days. We did lots of shopping, watching movies, talking and most of all EATING!

I promised Jaime, Dan & Leo that I would document some of our memorable moments so that we wouldn't forget. What better place than on the blog?

So, here is my version of the Top 10 Favortie Happenings in Vegas:

10.
Going to Oscar de La Hoya's after party at Body English (Hard Rock). Well, let's just say Oscar didn't show up...we think his after party was at the hospital. BUT, Jaime danced the night away as if Danny was her own, personal body guard!

Oscar...get well soon!


9.
Renting from Red Box with their special "tent" so that you can rent all your favorites and not have to worry about the person behind you seeing what you are renting.

Jaime renting her favorites

8.
Danny and Leo feeling "weird" after eating at a buffet sushi bar that closes from 3pm - 4pm to refresh their catch. Leo and Danny happened to eat at 3:30pm and got sick. Go figure?

Leo & Danny


7.
Meeting my new crush Doug from Mimi's Cafe. He was our waiter 2 days in a row, and even managed to remember our names. My favorite line was when Jaime told him "Where I come from, people give people kisses on their cheeks for their birthday." Doug probably could've taken us to HR had we worked with him. We were harassing him, but it was all in good fun. He is even one of my new friends on Facebook...gotta love that! When we left, he let us take this photo with him and right then I said to him, "Doug, hug us like you mean it." Does it sound like Jaime and I were getting enough attention from our husbands on this trip?

Jaime, Doug, Me

6.
Meeting the look-a-like Wayne Newton. Now, prepare yourself for this picture. Who wouldn't have thought this guy was an impersanator? He told us he has been at the Tropicana for 30 years, so we assumed he sang there. Nope, he has a hair salon there and the way he looks and dresses is for REAL, not at all trying to impersanate anyone!

Jaime, Wayne or maybe Dwayne, Me & Natalie (sister)

5.
Eating dinner with Natalie and Jeff and Capo's. If you are in Vegas, GO THERE! It is awesome!

Capo's

4.
Watching Danny and Leo play on there iPhones all FREAKING day long!

Texting each other

3.
Trying to buy Jaime her birthday dress that can be worn 100 different way. I was jealous because the saleslady thought she was Jaime's BFF.

BFF's?

2.
Watching movies with everyone and Leo coming up with one-liners that he thought he could use on me...come to fine out, it was meant for a woman to say. I will NEVER say what that one-liner is...I'm embarrased I watched that movie!


NO PICTURE


1.
Doug (Mimi's waiter) saying to Leo "OJ?" meaning Orange Juice. However, we had just been watching OJ Simpson's sentencing earlier and for some odd reason, Leo thought Doug was asking him his opinion on OJ! I think we ALL peed our pants watching the blank look on Leo's face trying to figure out why in the HECK Doug would care about OJ's sentencing and Leo's opinion. We blamed it on the "language barrier".

"I'm so glad OJ is finally in prison!"

Thanks for planning this getaway Leo...I love you no matter what you think about OJ!

Love Beyond Measures!

Well, I think Amber is going to literally kill me once she sees this posting. She doesn’t even know that I found out the password to our blog.
Today we got back from our Thanksgiving trip to St. George, Utah. We had a great time and I have to confess; “ I love the time that I got to spend with my family”. The week was full of activities specially soccer games, our daughter Haili was playing in her first competitive soccer tournament.
While driving back from St. George I found myself staring at my wife Amber while she was trying to get some sleep after days of fun and taking care of the kids. (You know, family trips are fun but it takes everything out of you)….
While staring at her in her sleep I could only think about the time I saw her for the first time and how stunning she looked that day. Eventually we became friends and after two plus years of friendship we started dating. It’s been over 9 years since we got married.

Tonight while I was reading the news over the internet Amber came over and told me if I would like to watch a video posted in a blog belonging to the man that survived an airplane crash with his wife down in AZ a few months back, If you don’t know about it you could always go to the blog: http://blog.cjanerun.com/
After watching the video my heart went out to them, but even more important I felt the need to write a few word to the woman I stared at while driving back from our vacation, my wife. I want to share with some of the things I love about her.

I love that she is my eternal companion.
I love how caring and loving she is to our children.
I love her gorgeous smile, her big blue eyes, and her beautiful hands.
I love that she accept me with all my imperfections (o.k. only one or two :).
I love how faithful she is to her religious principles, and her high moral standards.
I love how much she pays attention to our kids and how much she loves our baby boy Mason.
I love when she cooks for me. (Never Colombian food though).
I love her for always helping me remember how blessed we are in our home.
I love that she watches with me all the reality shows in T.V (The biggest loser, American Idol, Survivor, Dancing with the Stars, The Amazing Race).
I love that she lets me cuddle with her at night even though she rather have more space just for her.
I love it when she tells me she loves me and her romantic side shows.
I love that she lets me call her my bunny:).
I love that she supports me in my business ideas.
I love how smart and savvy she is in for many things.
I just LOVE HER so much!!!!!!

October Pics in November

Haili Boosie turned the big 1-2!

Dragon & Spidey...yes, Mason used the same costume 2 years in a row

Leo's brother/cross dresser Freddy

Leo and his pregnant "Sister"

Mason learned how to get out of his crib and now likes to nap in his hamper...dirty clothes and all!

Brandon felt left out by not getting braces

Haili as "Ugly Betty" on Halloween

Me and Macie

P.S. Steph, Liz & Mikey were at their Mom's house...that is why there aren't any pics of them on Halloween.

We love our Twinners!

Liz & Steph

Well, it has been a busy week in the Gonzo house!

This past week we have had the opportunity to move our Twinners up to our house here in South Jordan. It has been an experience mixed with many emotions, but one that we are so thankful and grateful for.

Steph and Liz will be starting Bingham High School on Monday and have spent the week moving things, rearranging their room, watching movies, shopping, reading, reading and more reading.

We took them to get registered for school and the Counselor told them not to worry about going to school this week, it was the end of the quarter...so they got the week off! How often does that happen?

I think they are a little bit nervous, but I dropped them off for lunch yesterday and a couple of their friends showed them around. They even went to Mr. Jensen's math class and took a test. Does it help that Mr. Jensen is a really good friend of ours from the Ward? Heck yes it does...he personally picked out all their teachers to make sure that they would be taken care of.

All I'm going to say is, watch out for the Gonzo Girls....they are going to be the cutest things to set foot into Bingham since it has been around...and that has been 100 years!

We love you Steph and Lizzy.

We are so thankful to be your parents and to have you living with us!

Brace Face & Metal Mouth

Mikey & Dr. G

Mother/Son moment

Metal Mouth

Haili Boo

Brace Face

So...Michael and Haili got braces this week! They were SO funny about it. We gave them the option to get clear brackets on top, but NOPE they wanted the super duper, bright & shiny SILVER! I can't blame them...I remember as a kid making retainers by straightening out big paperclips. I would wear them all day, and they would tear up my mouth. But it was all worth it. Or there were the times I would suck on a Jolly Rancher so it would form to the roof of my mouth like a retainer...if I could pull that off with the paper clip attached, then I was good to go.

Back to the story....they wanted SILVER because they wanted to be sure that everyone noticed that they had braces...which I fully understood given my past history with braces and retainer making.

Before we went to the Ortho (Dr. Ghiz) Michael said a prayer and prayed that him or Haili wouldn't cry during the procedure. It was so cute...and NO neither one of them cried. Although, Michael did have to hold my hand a couple of times when Dr. Ghiz was putting on the back brackets. It took nearly 1 1/2 hours to put Mikey's on and about 45 for Haili's. I told Dr. Ghiz that this is going to be a LONG 2 years for him, so I hope he is prepared to get to know Mikey really well.

After we were done, Michael had this conversation with me in the car:

M: Mom, is this Dr. Ghiz's number? (on the card)

A: Yes, why?

M: I'd like to keep it, just in case I have any questions, then I can call him directly.

A: Mikey, if you have any questions, just ask me. I've had braces...and if I can't answer your question, I'll call him. (Heck, I used to make them! And when Ryan had braces and his wires & brackets came off, he would make me fix them!)

M: No, that's okay...I'll call him.

P.S. Steph & Liz get their braces in 2 weeks! I'm looking for 2 more names I can call them since Brace Face & Metal Mouth are taken...any ideas?

Baby or Big Boy?

This baby boy loves his crib, blankets, binkies and cuddling. And I love them just as much as he does because he is my baby...the last of our litter, the caboose and end of our choo-choo train. If there was a shot out there to stunt his growth and keep him little, I would be the 1st in line for it.

I love my Mason!

End of Summer Pics

Our cute little Rosie...we love you and will never forget you. Watch over us from heaven our little hopping bunny-doggie!

Cousins chilling in the jeep

Chuck & Rosie sippin their juice

Lulu and her puppies

Gonzo's at Homestead

Cousins swimming

Punking John on the phone! I haven't laughed that hard in YEARS!

Haili, Rosie & Emmett

Cousins at Homestead

Rosie, Chuck & Ethan Pethan

Brothers

Leo being Surpirsed