Did you say 20?

Today is my baby girl's 20th birthday! Yes, I said 20!!!!! What a blessing this child has been in my life. I was so excited to have a baby girl and grateful that we had a boy first because I always wanted to have a big brother and didn't- so I wanted my daughter to have one.

Kami has almost always had a smile on her face. She has so much energy and never knows when to stop. Her husband says she needs to learn to slow down but she isn't (and never has been) good at that. She is always in high gear. She never wanted to play barbies or a lot of the stuff most little girls do. She wasn't meticulous in writing and art. She wanted to play soccer and tball, run, swim, go camping and get dirty. She did however, love to dance, jumprope, and do gymnastics and of course when it comes to shopping and clothes she is ALL GIRL!!!!

Ever since Kami was in 1st grade she wanted to be a nurse. She has stuck with that goal and never waivered. While she isn't there yet she has a good start. She works at Phoenix Children's Hospital as a PCT and is going to school to get her nursing degree. She loves children and anyone that knows her can tell you that kids tend to gravitate towards her. She has such a fun personality and she doesn't care if people see her singing and dancing and being silly. It has been a great asset at her job.

One thing we have come to learn about Kami is that she is accident prone. She always manages to get hurt but usually by doing something really out of the ordinary. When she was 12 she was kicked in the head by a cow when she was participating in a "horseless rodeo". Shortly after that she was thrown from a golf cart in the desert. It went downhill from there. I can't begin to list all her crazy accidents. A funny story though about one of her injuries was in kindergarten. She fell off the trampoline and got a bump on her head and she wrote in her "kindergarten journal" that she had to have a bag of peas on her head because we were out of ice. The teacher thought that was pretty funny!

Kami has always been a good friend. There are not too many people that don't like her. She wears her heart on her sleeve so you always know where you stand with her. If she is mad at you there is no question! She always goes out of her way to do things to make people happy. She goes the extra mile to help people out and tries to make a difference. I remember one year at Christmas time we saw one of the trees with children's names on it that needed Christmas gifts. She started crying saying that they were COLD and she wanted to give up some of her Christmas presents so that they could have something. When she was little she would SIGN I love you in sign language. That became her trademark for a long time. You could not leave her anywhere without her signing to you and every once in awhile she still does.

For the most part she and I have always been close-with the exception of a few difficult teenage moments- but now that she is an adult I think we are closer.
Several years ago we started using the phrase "Forever, For Always, No matter what!" I wanted her to know that even though we fight or she makes wrong choices that I will always love her.We know each other pretty well and some times we both admit to it being a little creepy. Several times a week one of us will be calling or texting the other at the same exact time about the same subject at really random times.

She has grown up to be a beautiful woman and I am so proud of her. She has worked hard to do what is right in her life and be married in the temple to her new hubby. What a joy that was!

Thanks for being you Miss Kami! I love you! Forever, For Always No matter what!