Porter's 22nd Birthday

September 13th, 2013. Porter's Birthday. If he were here we would be celebrating his 22nd birthday this year with him. Since he is not here we celebrate anyway and hope he attends and watches over us.  I try to imagine what he would look like 3 1/2 years older?  Would he be taller? Would he have facial hair like his brothers?  Would he have long or short hair?  Would he still be as athletic as he was when he was alive?  I imagine him as looking more like a young man than a teenager now.  I recently put this photo in my bathroom where I can see his sweet smile everyday.  It makes me very happy.

We like to go to dinner as a family for birthdays and decided that Brick Oven in Provo sounded like a great place.  Before we headed out my mother came over to give us a basket of goodies for Porter.  Porter won't get to partake of the deliciousness, so we will for him.  She likes to give him presents even though he's in heaven.  I think it's one way she shows how much she loves and misses her little grandson.  We all do.

She put together a little picnic basket with the makings for hamburgers, some chips and a bottle of her homemade dill pickles.  Porter LOVED to eat at grandma's house and she always made sure to feed him lots whenever he went to visit or work for her.

While we were visiting, Kali, my daughter had a fun idea.  She said we didn't have a four generation picture and that we should go outside and get one.  I'm so glad I have a brilliant daughter with awesome photography skills.  I know this doesn't have anything to do with Porter's birthday but it was one of those neat ideas we couldn't pass up on.

Then we headed down to Provo for dinner.  It was a Friday night and we had to wait about 20 minutes to get seated but when we did it was perfect.  They gave us their party room without us even requesting it.  How did they even know we were celebrating a birthday?

We had a nice big table with plenty of room to spread out all to ourselves.  The food was super delicious and everyone was happy.  Miles would much rather get up and move around than be stuck at a table eating food.  That is so not like me.  Bring on the food!  I think little Harper girl and I think alike.

My other 3 children are so cute together.  I love to watch them interact with each other.  They are sweet kids. 

As we were finishing up in came the servers singing a song and brought free dessert for a birthday.  Once again, how did they know?  Apparently, when I went off to wash up my daughter told the servers we were celebrating a birthday but that that person wasn't here.  They assumed when I came back from the restroom my daughter was talking about me.  I felt the need to explain that it really wasn't my birthday but our son's who was in heaven.  I felt bad for getting the free dessert but the servers were totally fine with it.  After all we were celebrating a birthday.

We had a great time together as a family and I'm so glad we can continue to celebrate together.  Families are forever and I'm grateful I have mine forever.  They bring me much joy and happiness.