Porter Graduated from High School

Porter graduated from High School.

This day seemed so far away, and now it came and went. Porter has had quite the high school experience. He hasn't had a single full year of school. Freshman year covid hit in March and they went virtual. Sophomore year he had his accident and didn't complete that year. Junior year was online while we lived in Utah and did therapy. Senior year the school caught on fire and burned a large portion of it and they went virtual again with 2 days at another High School. CRAZY! It's amazing to watch how resilient he has been and willing to make whatever situation he's in work. I'm so proud of him. He had to take 4 online courses, that were not easy, to make up for his Junior year while he was taking his classes for his Senior year. He graduated with Highest Honors. He's so smart. His brain is going to take him somewhere amazing. I'm so grateful he loves to learn.

I haven't written in quite some time. I found that the second year after the accident was a lot harder than the first, if you can believe that. Not for Porter, but for me. That's probably why I haven't written or posted in over a year. Everything was so new last year and we were just getting our bearings. The next year was more emotional and tricky navigating and establishing a new world and life. Being a care giver is no joke. I am so grateful I have the strength and energy to do it and so grateful for a good patient. Porter continues to be optimistic and even keeled and takes each day as it is. He is pleasant to be around and keeps me grounded. He seems to be a little unsure about his future and what's next, which is understandable. He has options and we know he'll figure it out. He is talking about serving a service mission for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and also he wants to go onto college. We don't know what any of these opportunities will look like going forward, but we know that it will all work out. Porter is brave and smart and willing to figure it out.

Here are some highlights of what Porter has been doing and adventures he's been having over the last year or so.

First and foremost - Porter became an UNCLE! Judson is a bright spot in all of our lives. He and Porter have such a sweet connection. Judson will sit on the table in front of Porter and interact with him and make sure he keeps his attention. Porter speaks his language. And he loves Porter's music.

Porter went waterskiing - We were so excited to have this opportunity. It is a man made lake in Utah and some awesome family had built their entire backyard and boat set up to be accessible. It was such a fun time and Porter loved it. He was a natural - probably because he was a natural water-skier before his accident too. So fun!

Porter was the Best Man at his sister's wedding. Porter and Kody are great friends and it was such a thoughtful gesture to include Porter like that. We are thrilled to have Kody be part of our family.

Porter went to Indian Wells Tennis tournament 2 times - He loves tennis and loves watching it as well. Paul, Porter and Sawyer are making this a tradition.

March 2022

March 2023

Porter has been to 4 dances at his high-school - 2 homecomings and 2 Proms. All with his darling girlfriend, Abby. She is amazing with Porter and knows how to do everything it takes to maneuver his wheelchair and get him secured in the car and up and down stairs and in and out of his wheelchair. She is always willing to make it work for him. We LOVE Abby.

Homecoming 2021

Prom 2022

Homecoming 2022

Prom 2023

He was asked to speak at my cousin's Stake Trek. It was in the mountains of Utah. He was very nervous, but he did a fabulous job. You could have heard a pin drop it was so quiet. Everyone was intently listening to him. He delivered a powerful message of faith and hope.

Porter went to FSY Camp (For the Strength of Youth) at Utah State University. He and Sawyer were roommates and Sawyer basically took care of him the entire time. Paul and I were in Logan in case he needed us, but they did a great job together. He was also there with some of his friends.

Porter has visited people in the hospital or rehab to cheer them up. Our friends told us about a boy Porter's age named Max that was injured skiing and so we got together for lunch. They enjoyed sharing stories and feelings about the rehab. We also have a friend from our ward that was injured in a biking accident. Porter really cheered him up and he commended Porter on his good attitude.

Many people have gone out of their way to meet Porter. Chad Hymas, a famous motivational speaker. Nate Ogden, an author and founder of chair the hope. Elder Bennett and his wife are leaders in our church and made a special arrangement to come meet Porter.

He has gone for rides in lots of cool cars. Our friend Nick took him in his BMW and my cousin Greg took him in his Porsche. Porter loves cars and loves to go fast.

Went to California to visit cousins. We stayed with my sister Emily and had so much fun hanging out and being with family.

Porter went golfing (well he rode in the cart). They had to strap Porter to the seat with a Gate Belt so he wouldn't tip out.

Porter went on his Papa's boat for the first time and loved being on the lake.

Porter has watched a lot of Highland High Tennis. Sawyer plays and so does Abby and a few of his friends. He loves being at the courts and he always wonders how good he would be at this point had he not gotten hurt.

Porter loves to spend time with his friends.

They love and support each other.

First Day of School

Porter turned 18. He is now an adult. Guess we better start charging him rent.

We went to Hawaii where Porter was able to snorkel and paraglide. We are so grateful for companies and individuals who are willing to make adventures like these for people that are disabled. We also did some swimming and hot tubbing which was awesome.

Porter decided to try playing ping pong in his Standing Frame and taping the paddles to his hands and it worked. He is GOOD! He has had fun playing with friends and family.

For Christmas, Porter's friend, Nate, installed a very large Sub in the trunk of the Orange Clean and so now we are one of those cars you can hear bumping at the stop light. It is Porter's favorite thing. He LOVES music and now he can really FEEL it.

We had the chance to take Porter snow skiing. He could bring 2 friends and so he invited Nate and James. They were such good sports and as much as they love skiing and are good at it, they spent the whole time just doing the cat tracks with us and entertaining Porter as they would do circles around us. It was a beautiful, perfect day on the slopes. TRAILS adaptive sports is AWESOME! They were so patient with Porter and made sure everything was just as he wanted. Porter quickly got the hang of navigating the chair himself and even had them put it into advanced mode for him. The chair has a joystick that allows Porter to turn and angle the skis. It's amazing.

Porter's older brother Hyrum came home from his mission. It was so fun to be all together for a couple of days. It's not very often all the siblings are together anymore. Such happy times.

Porter and some of his friends went to St. George (of all places)(That's where his accident happened - so I was trying not to have PTSD) for Senior Sneak. It's a few days before graduation when they don't have to be in school. Porter wanted to go and of course he can't go alone without some help, so I went too. I tried to make myself as invisible as possible. I would try and just show up when I needed to help Porter and then disappear. It was a great group of kids. It was fun.

On Mother's Day, Porter bore his testimony and said some very kind things about me.

He has developed a love for word games and Chess. He has a bunch of apps that he works on everyday and is good at all of them. He even paid for a Chess membership and is learning so much. He loves it. He can even beat his Papa Richards, which is hard. We gave him a new chess set for graduation.

Porter graduated from seminary, which is a religious study class that he has taken all throughout high school. He has had such a good experience learning from the scriptures.

We had a BBQ with Porter's closest friends the night before graduation. These boys have been through a lot together and it'll be fun to see where their paths take them. Such great young men.