Happy Birthday, Katie!

Eighteen Fun Facts About My Sister Because Today She Turns 18:

1. Her first and middle names, Katie Ellen, can be spelled out as KTLN. Pretty cool, huh?
2. She's been a dancer since she was three years old...
3. ...And now she's on the Provo High Dance Company, which is about as prestigious as it gets in our neck of the woods.
4. Because she's a dancer, she has amazing poise, even though her elbows are double jointed and sometimes look funny.
   
5. She plays the violin AND the piano.
6. She also teaches piano lessons to some neighbor kids.
   
7. She's one heck of an awesome employee at the Boys and Girls Club.
8. She graduates from Provo High in May.
9. And has been accepted to BYU as a freshman this fall.
10. Where she wants to study to be a nurse.
11. She is a social butterfly -- everyone likes Katie.
12. She squeals when she gets excited.
13. When she was a baby, she had the cutest deep throaty laugh.
14. The word "cha" features prominently in her vocabulary. (And that makes me giggle.)
15. Despite all of her fabulous qualities, she has a hard time keeping her room clean.
16. It's easy to tell when Katie's upset about something because the skin under her eyes turns pink.
17. She can whip together a beautiful friendship bracelet like no other.
18. She has recently taught herself how to knit, crotchet, and quilt. Seriously, this girl is amazing!
    

Katie was my first sister, and oh, was I EVER relieved to welcome her to the family. I mean, brothers are great and all, but I was desperately ready for a sister. Even if that meant giving up having my own bedroom (which I suppose, in retrospect, wasn't that big of a deal, seeing as I hadn't had my own room for that long anyway).

She was born on a Monday when I was seven years old. This Monday was no ordinary Monday. It was the Monday my mother had signed up to eat lunch with me at school, and I was really looking forward to it. Only then she had to spend her lunchtime at the hospital with Katie instead of in the cafeteria with me. I remember being pretty (selfishly) bummed. But I got over it when I came home from school and learned that the stork had brought me a sister instead of another brother. Yeah, that pretty much made made my day.

I wish, Katie, that I could tell you this in person, face-to-face, but seeing as I'm in Indiana and you're in Provo, you'll have to take a raincheck (only a few more weeks!) and accept this instead:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATIE!!!

Have a perfectly wonderful day!