Happy, Happy Birthday Caroline Dear!

I still remember the day she was born. I was in kindergarten and Susan Darner came to get me from the bus stop at the corner. I remember her telling me that my mom and daddy were at the hospital because my sister was going to be born and I walked home with her to go play until I could go to the hospital to see Caroline.

David, Caroline, and Christian

Caroline is the big 18 today!

18 Things About Caroline

1. We tease Caroline because when she was little she used to run around the neighborhood pants-less... it was always just her t-shirt, undies and a big bow.

2. Like most little girls, Caroline and I used to play Barbies. We had a Pocahantas Barbie doll that was always the crazy neighbor.

3. Caroline is incredibly musically talented. She has an amazing singing voice and is an extremely talented piano player. She also has a very trained ear. In choir she can pick out not only her part, but every other section's parts (including bass and tenor).

4. When Caroline was almost 3, she was playing in the family room in Mesa and bonked her head on the fireplace right between her eyes. She had a deep gash right at the top of her nose. She put her head down for a minute and then I noticed that she was gushing blood. Naturally I started screaming for mom. Caroline had to have 4 stitches and at her Winnie the Pooh birthday party a couple days later you could see them in all of her pictures.

5. Caroline is an awesome snow skier. I am proud to say that she can keep up with all of the boys, in fact she leaves most of them in her dust.

6. Caroline is quite the chef and baker. Confections are her specialty. She makes the yummiest cakes, from scratch of course! She has also seemed to master the whole dash of this, a little of that, oh just till it looks right thing that I seem to struggle with!

7. Caroline is one of the kindest people I know. She has the purest heart and is such a genuine person. I admire her ability to be a friend to all.

8. Caroline is a smartie! She might kill me for announcing it here, but on her first try on her ACT she got a 30. In middle school, she scored in an extremely high percentile on some standardized tests. I believe it was the counselor who started calling her "golden girl". The nickname has kind of stuck among some of her friends.

9. Caroline is an artist, though she would never claim to be. She has taken some painting classes at school and has done a couple paintings. She has a eye for still life paintings and always gets the lighting/shadow effects just right.

10. Caroline wants to go to BYU. Go cougs! She says that she will likely be there a while because so many classes sound of interest. She loves to learn and absorbs everything. (Unlike me I usually learn it and then forget it.)

11. When she was a little girl, Caroline told us that she wanted to be "the lady that scoops the ice cream." Aim high!

12. Caroline was visiting me for a weekend down in Provo when she was 15. I decided that we were going to go out driving. As I recall, her practice opportunities were quite limited at this point. I made her go though a round-a-bout and she was not the least bit happy with me, but hey we both lived to tell the tale.

13. Caroline is quite the seamstress. I can manage to sew a straight line, but she is remarkable. For her musical last year, she sewed all of her costumes...big elaborate dresses. Wow!

14. We sometimes call her "Missy."

15. Caroline's hair is stick straight. She can leave the house with it in a wet pony tail, take the pony tail out when her hair is still damp and run her fingers through it, and when it is dry it looks like she spent forever straightening it. Wouldn't that be divine!

16. Even though she is younger than me, she is an example. She is such a good person and she always aspires to be better. She is firm in her convictions and always makes good choices.

17. I am a bit ashamed to admit this, but I remember a particular conversation we had when Caroline was probably 10 and I was probably 15. We were trying to figure out how tall we would all be by doing the whole double your height at 2 years old thing. We doubled her height and it came out being over six feet tall. She cried because I told her she would never find any boys tall enough for her. (So mean, I realize that!) The irony of it all is that she is the shortest in the family at 5'6'' (or so she claims.)

18. Caroline and I each call the other "my favorite sister". I am so lucky to have Caroline. I couldn't ask for a sweeter, spunkier, more beautiful, talented, or fun sister!

Caroline, I love you very much and I am so happy that I know we will be together forever! I hope all your birthday wishes come true!