Brothers Birthday Bash

We definitely know what makes a great birthday celebration! We went to San Francisco for a weekend birthday trip for Gavin's 38th birthday and his brother's, Jeff's, big four-oh! I laughed more than I have in years and had the best time! I think it was my best birthday ever and it wasn't even my birthday.

Our first day in the city was all about Jeff...it was his 40th birthday after all!

We found our hotel --The Palace Hotel. It was a great hotel with a lot of character. I love adventures and the unknown. That's probably the reason I was able to convince Rae into using Hotwire.com to book our hotel with only knowing it would be a 4 star hotel in Union Square for $100/night.

We walked around the city through Union Square, Chinatown and eventually made it to North Beach for lunch at The Stinking Rose. I am confident that I have NEVER eaten so much garlic in one sitting! My stomach was burning for the rest of the day! It was really yummy, though, at first...then after the garlic bomb and about 5 rolls, I realized I had eaten way too much garlic!
We took a taxi with a really strange taxi driver -- never turned on the meter, one glove on, talked about his hangover from the night before, kept trying to unroll the windows even thought it was cold outside. Did he not like our garlic stench? Still not sure if it was really a taxi or some guy posing as a taxi driver. We went to the theater district in hopes of getting some tickets to Wicked. No luck! We were sad for a minute but then realized it gave us a good excuse to go to NYC in the next few months. And we were sure we could find a good movie at the local theater! :) And of course we did the mandatory shopping spree at Zara because it was all about Jeff!

We spent the next day at Alcatraz Island and Fisherman's Wharf. The island was so beautiful with so many great photo shots in front of all the old brick buildings and walls. It was my first time to tour Alcatraz--it was cool to take the audio tour through the prison, too.

The ferry ride to Alcatraz

Picture spot on Alcatraz Island

Jeff and Gavin enjoying the audio tour

We spent the rest of the day at the wharf--getting lunch, eating chocolate samples at Ghirardelli square, buying expensive cupcakes, shopping, visiting the art galleries, and riding the bus with Ellen as our bus driver. I think we ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Not sure but feel safe with that assumption since I think we ate there 3 times during our short stay.

Lunch at Fisherman's Wharf

Crab legs!

We spent the last day riding bikes over Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito. This was my favorite day! I had so much fun riding bikes with Gavin! And it helped that we had perfect weather and didn't get lost like we did on our girl's trip last year. I only had to walk my bike up one hill this time compared to all the walking I did on my last attempt. Not because I am in better shape...nothing has changed there, but Gavin showed me how to use my gears!

The bridge is somewhere in all the fog!

Rae, Jeff, Gavin and me

The birthday boys!

This is after walking up a huge hill! I couldn't move and was taking a much needed break!

Making our way across the bridge

Hanging out in Sausalito--waiting for the ferry to take us back to the Ferry Building

Ferry ride back to San Fran

We spent some time in Chinatown again on our last day looking for Totoro. Apparently there isn't a big demand for Japanese cartoon figures in CHINAtown. Go figure!

We may not have found Totoro . . . but we did find this guy!

Chinatown entrance

Happy 38th Birthday Gavin!!

I love you!

Spread the word to end the word campaign

A personal message from John C. McGinley


Hi, I’m John C. McGinley. I’m an ambassador for the National Down Syndrome Society, and today I’m teaming up with Special Olympics to bring you a message that’s important to me.
John C. McGinley and his son, Max
So many times in life you are asked to change…
Change your clothes. Change lanes. Change jobs. Change the sheets. Change flights. Change your tune. Change horses midstream. Change your latitudes and your attitudes!
Change, and the ability to adapt, is to the human condition as air is to the lungs. We change, and in the doing, we thrive!
In fact, we just elected a president who promised, above all else, to “change.”
What if, on March 31, you elected to change the way you use the words “retard” and “retarded”?
Hardly seems like the largest of sacrifices. Not when you consider the changes in language that you have, so willingly, already elected to integrate into your vernacular. You no longer use the words nigger, or kike, or faggot, or jap, or kraut, or mick, or wop.
Why would you? Why on earth would you? Those are all words that hurt. Those are all racial and ethnic slurs and epithets that perpetuate negative stigmas. They are painful! And that is not okay. It is wrong to pain people with your language. Especially, when you have already been made aware of your oral transgression’s impact.
Make no mistake about it: WORDS DO HURT! And when you pepper your speak with “retard” and “retarded,” you are spreading hurt. So stop it. Stop saying “retard” and “retarded.” Those words suck! You are better than that and you definitely do not need to be “that guy.”
There is no longer any acceptable occasion to lace your dialogue with the words “retard” and “retarded.” Without fail, those words are the stuff of hurt. They, straight up, are. So, stop it! Stop using the “R-word.”
The 7 million people with intellectual disabilities (around the planet) who are on the receiving end of this hate speak are genetically designed to love unconditionally. These “retards” are NEVER going to return your vitriol. Ever! So what could possibly be the up-side of continuing to use the “R-word” in your daily discourse?
We love you. We do!
And, just in case you missed it and you need an extra hug? We love you!
You do not need to love us in any kind of reciprocal fashion. You don’t. (It’s not that kind of bargain.)
But, how about on March 31, you elect to change? A word? Two stinkin’ syllables?
On March 31, join us and “Spread the Word to End the Word.” And the word is “retard!” It HURTS! So help us to cut it out.
Thank you!
We do love you!
John C. McGinley

World Down Syndrome Day

I'm a day late in posting for World Down syndrome Day but I thought this video clip was perfect for this celebration. Hope you enjoy this footage of our own local celebrity, Lily Smith (her mom is the president of Utah Down Syndrome Foundation), she is featured in the upcoming movie The Jerk Theory.

Books are fun, Books are great, Let's sit down with a book today!

Thanks for all the words of encouragement with Morgan's testing! I took Scarehaircare's advice and made a little video of Morgan and gave it to her teacher and speech therapist at Parent Teacher Conferences last week. Here's a little sampling of the video with her reading some sight words and kindergarten books. You'll notice she liked to read the books by looking at them on the video camera monitor more than sitting on the couch.

Geography Bee Update

We found out at parent teacher conferences that Jack will be competing in the state geography bee. He is the first student from his elementary school to qualify for the state level. He is one of 100 students in Utah that will compete next month. The winner goes to DC for the national competition and that winner gets a $25,000 college scholarship. I wonder if the other students are studying because I know this boy sure isn't!

What's the point?

There are certain things that I hate about Down syndrome--IEP's and testing are just a few of them! Morgan's kindergarten teacher asked me if I could come to Morgan's testing because she had tried and Morgan wouldn't talk or answer anything for her. She thought Morgan might be more cooperative if I was in the room with her. I'm not sure what this test was for but I think it had something to do with her placement for next year. The teacher started off the test by letting me know she was going to give her the preschool test and then we could see about the kindergarten test depending on how she did on the preK one. The testing was done in a separate room away from the classroom. Morgan knew right away that something different was going on and decided to shut down. She whispered some things to me but otherwise she kept her eyes on the floor, thumb in her mouth and refused to play along with the test. The test was ridiculous--colors, shapes, numbers (1-10), capital and lower case letters and sounds. All things that Morgan has known since she was 3. It took THREE hours--over two different times of me going into her classroom-- to do this test and we never even got to the lower case letters! I was seriously raging inside during the test! I was so frustrated that Morgan wouldn't cooperate and can be so stubborn. I am a control freak and it drives me crazy that there isn't anything I can do to get her to cooperate and SHINE! But the biggest frustration for me was trying to understand why they even had to do this test. Do they not believe me? How would it benefit me to exaggerate her abilities to her teacher? I kept asking the teacher if I could do these things at home and video it so she could see how easily she can do these things when she doesn't feel threatened. She laughed and said that she knew that Morgan knows all of this stuff but she still has to test her. Why? My feelings changed from anger to sadness as I drove home. There are days that I just wish I didn't have to deal with any of this. I feel so inadequate to be the one that has to make all of the big decisions for her. Goals on her IEPs. Full inclusion or cluster classroom setting? All I can do is hope that I am making the right choices and leading her in the right direction and remember that some days are a lot better than others!

Our adventures in the Mexican Riveria

We just got home from a wonderful week cruising with the Seal family in the Mexican Riviera. A big thank you to Jack and Lolly for giving us such a GENEROUS Christmas gift and making it possible for all of us to go and make such great memories together.

Day1-- We flew from SLC to LA. Found our 'Starship' and got the party started...

with a little relaxation around the pool--swimming, yoga and eating

the mandatory muster call

Nothings better than dinner with all the cousins in the fancy dining room

and ending the night with a little fun (and minor surgery) in the cabin with Jeff and Rae

Day2--Day at Sea

We spent this day doing more of the same--swimming, relaxing and eating

Ryan and Hadley in the hot tub

The sunsets were amazing on this backdrop!

Day3-- Cabo San Lucas

We took a shuttle to Santa Maria Beach (closer to Cabo de San Jose) and had a great time shopping, getting tan, snorkeling and whale watching. But the highlight for Hadley were all the bees looking for a drink of our sugary pop. PTSD from our family pictures in the canyons. :)

waiting for our tender to take us in to Cabo San Lucas

Ryan playing frisbee at Santa Maria Beach

A view of the rocks from the cruise ship

Jack, Ryan, and Hadley

Day 4--Mazatlan

We had technical difficulties on this portion of the trip--my camera's battery died, Jack's camera (not battery) died but we did take a little video. I'm blaming the whole camera fiasco on the terrible joke that Gavin thought would be so funny...shaving his goatee and leaving a short little (mixture of Inspector Clouseau and Hitler) mustache.

We started off the day by taking a tour to the cathedral of the immaculate conception

Then we spent the rest of the day at this pool and beach

I know it is disappointing...but Gavin's moustache only made it 12 hours! Hallelujah!

Day5--Puerto Vallarta

We separated from the group (ok so they left us) and went to Sea Life Park and saw a Dolphin and Sea Lion show and then the kids had the time of their life swimming with the dolphins. Then we had some fun on the water slides and lazy river.

Hadley going for a dolphin ride

Jack getting a big kiss from Apollo

Ryan's handshake with Apollo

Having fun on the water slides

We took a cab back into the city and had a yummy dinner at Los Arbolitos and then walked along 'El Malecon'--the boardwalk. Lots of good memories at this stop!

Dinner at Los Arbolitos

Hanging out with the fam up on the top deck

Days 6 & 7-- Out to Sea

Not a lot of pics from these days. Luckily we found our chargers as we were packing to come home! We spent Day 6 out around the pool getting the last little bit of sun possible. But Day 7 is just one big motion-sickness blur. We spent most of the day in our rooms ordering room service and hoping to not throw it back up. The boat rocked all day long. It made it a lot easier to get off the boat and have excitement to return home. We were all so excited to get home and see Morgan, Griffin and Mia. We could see them watching for us from the window as we drove in the driveway. Morgan and Griffin were ecstatic and kept saying 'Welcome Home!' It took Mia about 15 minutes to decide if she was excited to see us again. And now she won't leave my side.


And of course I can't forget to thank my sweet mom (the day shift) and Mike and Jen Patch(the night shift) that watched the 3 little ones for us while we were out cruisin! I know from personal experience that that is not an easy task! Muchas Gracias!

2009 Geography Bee Winner

Jack competed in the National Geography Bee against 8 students (from 4th grade through 6th grade) from his school. In the end it was Jack and his best friend, Matt, as the two finalists. Neither one was able to answer the final questions correctly so it went to a tie breaker which meant the first one to answer correctly would earn 1st place. I knew my mission to Argentina would pay off...the question required the student to know which country was west of Argentina and Jack correctly answered Chile and became the geography bee winner! He now takes a written exam to qualify for the state competition and the winner of that competition will compete in the national competition in Washington DC. Way to go Jack!

Heidi's 40!

I used to be so jealous that Heidi was 2 1/2 years older than me! It drove me crazy that no matter how hard I tried I could never catch up and be as old as she was. Well I must admit that after all these years I'm not one bit envious and am finally happy for Heidi! Congrats Heidi--you did it-- you are older than me!

I helped host a surprise birthday party for her last week. She flew in for less than 24 hours and had the time of her life! At least she better pretend that she did!

My sisters--we are almost identical except Heidi is older and Brittany is 10 years younger and I am the only one with brown eyes, naturally brown hair, olive skin, rectangle smile, etc. but other than those few things . . . identical!

I gave Heidi a gift with a music cd with the top hits from 1969, a cute book about sisters, 40 pieces of riesens candy and 40 black balloons filled with the 'riesens we love Heidi'. I thought it would be the perfect gift for her until she shared her debilitating fear of balloons and popping balloons. So Blake helped out by popping all of the balloons and handing her the strip of paper. And I think my favorite part of the night was watching Blake sit next to Heidi while she read each reason and him nodding in agreement and adding why he thought it was true. It really was the sweetest sibling moment!

40 Riesens we love Heidi

1. You are lots of fun to be around. (Brittany)
2. You work hard at whatever you are doing. (Brittany)
3. You are a great teacher. (Brittany)
4. You are patient. (Brittany)
5. You are not afraid to share your beliefs with others. (Brittany)
6. You make a mean sweet potato casserole when your hubby's out of town for just you and I to eat! (Brittany)
7. You are giving of your time and talents. (Brittany)
8. You are very crafty, sometimes so crafty that I wonder how we're related! (Brittany)
9. You are a great example. (Brittany)
10 You are very accepting of others. (Brittany)
11. I always felt popular because everyone knew me as "Heidi Stewart’s little sister" (Heather)
12. You introduced me to my favorite hobby...scrapbooking as my Creating Keepsakes distributor and even gave me the employee discount! (Heather)
13. You always found great romances on our family vacations–Peru, Bermuda Star, Hong Kong, Lake Powell, etc. (Heather)
14. You always were mom’s favorite! And still are! :) (Heather)
15. You would make a perfect ‘statue model’! Just look at all our family pictures of Paris!(Heather)
16. You’re the bishop’s wife! :) (Heather)
17. I always know I have a friend awake in Vancouver when I am having a hard time falling asleep (Heather)
18. You let me be in your clubs–even if I had to always be the treasurer (and there was never any $ involved!) (Heather)
19. Your example of serving a mission helped me (find some penpal boyfriends) and start thinking about my own mission. (Heather)
20. You’ve never shyed away from bold fashions–bright purple and pink eyeshadows and lipsticks ($1 wet-n-wild) in the 80's. (Heather)
21. She makes the most amazing family calendars for Grandma. (Jolie)
22. Heidi always has an upbeat, sunny side.. how does she stay so happy with all those activities to drive to... what meds are you on? :) (Jolie)
23. It's always party time when Heidi comes to visit. (Jolie)
24. Love that I get to have 4 sisters that are so fun. (Jolie)
25. She is so generous with her time and talents. With 5 kids it's difficult to have any time or talents. (Jenni)
26. She is a fabulous party planner. Had she not pursued her career as a "stay-in-the-car" mom, she could have been a very successful party planner. (Jenni)
27. She has a very positive attitude. Heidi always seems upbeat no matter what the circumstances are, even if she is eatin' pavement at Lagoon. (Jenni)
28. She is very slow to anger. I read a comment she wrote about herself once answering the question "How do you show anger?". She responded that she just gets quiet and doesn't say much. We could probably all benefit from not speaking out when we're angry. (Jenni)
29. She always puts her family first. In this day and age, that quality is getting a lot harder to come by. (Jenni)
30. She is an excellent speaker. Since my face gets red, I shake, and want to vomit in a public speaking setting, I really envy that talent. (Jenni)
31. She is good at sticking with things. I can't think of a better way to word that, but she is so good about continually keeping up family traditions, having family home evenings, etc. even when those things are really difficult to accomplish. (Jenni)
32. She is very giving. The clothing budget for my kids is practically zero because of all the donations from Heidi as well as other sister-in-laws. I know it's a huge undertaking to get all those clothes down here instead of just donating them to someone where she lives, but she does it and never complains about it. (Jenni)
33. She is a "good helper" (as I would say to my kids). She doesn't need any asking and she doesn't expect any thank yous, she just does it to be helpful! (Jenni)
34. She's totally hot! I probably could have thought of one more thing that was a little deeper, but don't we ALL want to be hot?! (Jenni)
35. Amazed that she finds time to do it all and have her house still look good. (Jolie)
36. Impressed that she is raising 5 wonderful child with a gospel centered life. (Jolie)
37. Every summer when she comes to town to attend Education week it inspires me to try to get there, even if it's for just that one day. (Jolie)
38. She's such a tough chick, surviving the stinky rats in her engine.. (Jolie)
39. She is just all around a fun and amazing sister in law. (Jolie)

40. Love that someone else in the family is a little older than me.. ok.. less than 60 days but still.. (Jolie)

Happy Birthday Heidi! We love you!