5 Years!

5 years ago today here we were

I can't believe how young we look in this picture! And I can't believe it has already been five years! I'll be the first to admit that we have had our ups and downs but through it all we've grown closer together. The longer I am married to Rick the more I realize what a good match he is for me. He helps point out my strengths and helps me work on my weaknesses. He is always trying to make me happy and do what is best for me and our family. I really am a lucky girl to have him. Here are a few things, both good and bad, that I have learned about Rick over the years that we have been married

1) He's cool and he knows it. Lets just say he is confident. What a stud!

2) He is just like uncle Rico from Napolean Dynamite. Living in the past, glorying in all his old sports victories. He really was a good athlete in high school and he has shown me all the tapes to prove it. :)

3) He is such a good dad to our boys!

He is always creating such fun memories with the kids

Rick is just a big kid at heart and the boys absolutely love it. Daddy is the one that plays wild and crazy with them, always wrestling with them and being loud. The boys can't get enough of him.

4) He's a HUGE New York Giants Fan! I've learned that if he is watching the Giants on TV it's best to just leave him alone. :)


5) He looks really creepy and gross with a mustache. He grew it as a joke for his brothers wedding and I couldn't wait to see it go.


6) He works really hard for our family. A full time husband and father as well as a full time student in a very demanding program and he even works part time for a psychologist on the side. He does it all for us and I know that when he graduates he is going to be a really great psychologist.

And here we are now

Rick always jokes that five years of marriage and two kids equals high blood pressure.:) Well after 5 years he doesn't have high blood pressure but we do have a happy family with a lot of good memories to show for it. Five years down and eternity to go.:) I can't wait to see what the future has in store for us. Love you Rico!

Thanksgiving Break

Well, I know that Thanksgiving seems like forever ago but I am just barely getting around to blogging about it. We had a good thanksgiving this year. We were supposed to be spending Thanksgiving in Arizona by ourselves, at least that is what everyone thought, but Rick and I pulled off the ultimate surprise when we showed up at my parents house Thanksgiving morning. We drove all night on Wednesday and then rang the doorbell at my parents house Thanksgiving morning. Everyone was shocked and excited. It was a quick trip with a lot of driving but we had a great time and we were glad we were able to spend the holiday with family.

Tyler waiting patiently at the table for the Thanksgiving dinner. I have no idea why he has his hand in his water. And sadly this is the only picture I have of Thanksgiving day.

But we did lots of fun things while we were in Idaho

We got to meet our new little nephew Ben. He was very cute and my boys just couldn't get enough of him, especially Logan. We had to keep him from poking poor little Ben's eyes out.

We went bowling and had a good time. Rick is still a little bitter because my dad beat him by two pins. If you don't know Rick very well just trust me when I tell you that he is very competitive. :)


And then of course we went on the annual Gauchay Christmas tree hunt. It's a tradition the day after Thanksgiving to go in the mountains and cut down our Christmas trees. Here is a picture of some of the fam in front of our tree that we were about to cut down.


Rick and Tyler cutting the tree down. We strapped it to the top of our rental car and then hauled it all the way back to Arizona. It is so fun to have a tree in our apartment and gets the boys really excited for Christmas.

Tyler wanted a little tree for his room so he and Rick cut down a piece of Sagebrush for him to take home.

When we got home we put our tree up and decorated it

Logan trying to decide where to put the ornament

Tyler putting the star on top of the tree

The boys in front of the finished tree. This picture was taken 5 minutes before the whole tree fell over. I thought it was hilarious and could not stop laughing. Rick on the other hand didn't see anything funny about it and was in fact a little upset that all our hard work just crashed down in front of us. We eventually got it all put back together but I am still laughing about it.

Halloween

Here is what our kids were for Halloween

Logan was Donald Duck (quack quack). Isn't this the best costume ever. I just don't know if I will ever find a costume that I like more than this one. Tyler wore it a couple of years ago and now it was Logi's turn. It's been a hit everytime.

Tyler was a dragon. Actually his costume is really a dinosaur but he thinks it is a dragon so thats what we call it at our house. It might look familiar because it is the same costume that he wore last year. He loves wearing it so much that he wanted to wear it again this year and that was just fine with us. He loves to run up to everyone and yell "Roar" while he is wearing it. He thinks he is a scary dragon.(Logan didn't quite make it into the picture in time.)

And if the boys would have come trick-or-treating at your house this is what you would have seen when you opened the door. I know this picture is a little blurry but it was my favorite one. They are both laughing and have the biggest smiles on their faces. I thought it was so cute.

Here is a more clear picture of them together

Tyler trick-or-treating. Between our ward trunk or treat on Friday and then taking the boys around the neighborhood on Saturday, they made quite a haul on candy. The boys couldn't be happier about it either. Tyler keeps telling me that he wants to have Halloween again.

The boys with our pumpkins. Rick and I did the big one and then Tyler and Logan had the small one. The boys just mostly wanted to color on them. They had a lot of fun.

Fun at the Fair!

It's fair time again. We love the fair and we especially love opening day because you can get in for $1. We had a great time even though it was still pretty hot here. We were in the triple digits this weekend. It's the middle of October for crying out loud! I am really getting sick of this heat already. Anyway here are some pictures that are probably only interesting to me but I will post them anyway.

Welcome to the fair! or in Spanish, which is the most popular language there, Bienvenidos!

Tyler is in that stoller too if you look really hard.

I know this picture is kinda hard to see but after you buy your ticket to get into the fair you are greeted by about a dozen police officers. It's a little intimidating and definetly not what we are used to seeing at the Blackfoot fair in Idaho

As soon as Tyler found out we were going to the fair he just kept telling us over and over and over again that he was going to ride the ferris wheel. He was so excited about it that we didn't have the heart to tell him no. So Rick and Tyler rode even though it was a huge rip off. 10 bucks for these two to ride the ferris wheel one time. And that's why that was our one and only ride.


We ate lots of good food.

Rick enjoying his Funnel Cake.


We played one game

Rick won Tyler a little stuffed duck, which he hasn't let out of his sight since. How can anyone lose at this game? I mean seriously, they let you lean over as far as you want until you are right next to the balloon. They make it so easy. We were still impressed with your skill though Rico.:)


The boys went to work on the farm

Tyler even sported the Farmer hat

The boys also got to milk a cow

The boys played with the giant blocks that I am sure had swine flu all over them. Hand sanitizer helped to ease my mind.

Our family at the fair. (I have no idea who that man in our picture is. He looks a little lost though)

On our way back to the car after the fair. Our friends were borrowing our double stroller so we laid the single stroller all the way back and put both boys in there. They were having a great time.

To top off a fun night, Rick, being the great dad that he is, had the idea to put up our tent on our balcony and have a little campout with Tyler. Tyler was so excited about it. He loves the tent, sleeping bags, flashlights, and most of all one on one time with his dad. That extension cord coming out of the window was for a fan. That's right people. Even in the middle of October it was too hot outside in the tent so they needed a fan.

Ricks Birthday Bash!

Rico turned the big 2-8 on Friday!! We decided to celebrate his birthday Disney style this year. Phoenix is only about a 41/2 hour drive from Disneyland so we always said that we should go sometime while we are living so close. This year at Disneyland you get in for free on your birthday and since Rick didn't have to work last weekend and it was his birthday on Friday we figured this would be as good a time as any to go. So a few days before we left we booked a hotel and planned out our trip. We had a great time and are so glad that we went.

Our family at the main entrance to Disneyland

Me being a super cheeseball( I thought he had already taken the picture) but anyway they had it all decorated for halloween. Here we are in front of the Mickey Mouse Pumpkin.

Us in front of the castle


We rode lots of rides. Here are a few of them

Me and the boys riding the spinning tea cups.

Rick and Tyler on Dumbo.

Us on the It's a Small World ride. My favorite.

Rick and Tyler on the old Riverboat

Tyler driving like a crazy man

Probably Tylers favorite ride. We must have rode these rocketships a dozen times.

We met some of the characters

Mickey Mouse. Rick almost crowded him out of the picture. Good thing he didn't. We had to wait in line forever to get this picture

Pluto

Goofy

The birthday boy standing on main street. They gave him a pin to wear on his shirt with his name on it that let everyone know that it was his birthday. All day long we heard "Happy Birthday Rick" "Rick, Happy Birthday" He had never had so many people wish him a happy birthday in his life. It's just a happy place.

Rick and Tyler at the parade. Very fun parade. The funnest we have ever been too. Loud, upbeat, and just fun. You couldn't help but feel good at that parade. We had great seats. Right in front of Mickey and Minnie

After Disneyland we wanted to sing happy birthday to Rick. Well being in a hotel and away from home we didn't have a cake. So we stopped at a convience store and bought some hostess cupcakes so that we could sing to him and he could blow out some candles.

Don't worry though, we did make him a real cake when we got home. According to Tyler you haven't actually had your birthday until he has helped make you a cake and until he has decorated the apartment with balloons and crepe paper.

On Saturday morning we woke up and drove the Huntington Beach. It's only about 20 minutes away from Disneyland. This was the boys first time at the beach and seeing the ocean. They loved it and could have stayed there all day.

We packed sand toys and they went to work digging and building. Tyler is obviously taking it very serious.

Logan playing in the sand

We stayed at the beach for a few hours and then we had to head home. It was a quick trip but so fun to get out of Phoenix for a few days and away from all the everyday stress. We had a great time and made lots of fun memories! Happy Birthday Rico!