*birthday dinner*

At 13 I think that friend birthday parties should be put on hold. Not indefinately, but maybe until the big 1-6 rolls around.

So we opted to invite the grandparents to go to dinner. I think Nick was more excited about that than if I had planned for his friends to come along.

We went to Pat's barbeque. We had to plan the night way in advance due to the schedule that football carved out for us this fall so Nick chose the venue weeks before and couldn't wait until the day to come. The time seemed to take forever because the thought of their delicious grub tantalized my taste buds and made me salivate. A lot.



I had never been when they have had live music playing. It was super cute because the boys would move to the music as they were eating. There was not a whole lot of conversation around the table because the music was so loud but there was visiting in little groups throughout the evening and it was quite delightful.



My boys are lucky to have two sets of fabulous grandparents. Grandparents that are supportive and loving and help Justin and I raise our brood. They exercise just enough extra parenting to help guide them (and us) through tough spots. And the coolest thing about their parenting is that my boys don't even know what hit them because it was done on the sly. By someone other than their parents. It is great to have that secret backup ammunition.



We love you Nick. I am proud for the choices you are making in your life and hope that you continue on the path that you are on. You have good friends and have a mature head on your shoulders that has helped you see a bit into the future to help you make good decisions now. You want to go to college so you want (and are getting) straight A's. You want to go on a mission so you go to church and sometimes read your scriptures. I wish that you could see that your brothers are most likely going to be bigger than you one day so you would stop picking on them. I guess you will learn that one the hard way.



Happy, happy birthday love.