Kacey turns 25!

Kacey turned 25 on December 13th. I did not forget her birthday but I was in Hawaii so I couldn't blog then. Then after I got home, I had to get those two pesky bad weather blogs out of the way so that I could give this birthday tribute the attention it deserves!

There are so many great things to say about Kacey that I'm not sure where to start. Let's start with a little dose of reality. When Kacey was born, I thought she was the most beautiful baby that ever lived. She had all this wild black hair and even though everyone said that she looked like a little Mexican baby, I thought she was gorgeous. It's just so funny to me because if you know me I am much more objective about my children than your ordinary parent. I usually see all of my kids faults while others see their virtues. I can't remember exactly when I figured out that while Kacey was a beautiful child and grew into a beautiful adult as well, she was not the most beautiful baby born to the planet that I thought she was at the time. Maybe it was when Kristy was born and I thought, "Now she's even cuter than the first one!" Who knows? Kacey was pretty much a perfect baby, though. Her only fault was that she spit up a lot. Other than that she was happy and content and good natured and so much fun.



As you can see, she was born with lots of hair and it just kept growing. In this picture below, she was 2 1/2 years old. There was never a day in her young life that I didn't have to do her hair.



Kacey didn't get much of a chance to enjoy being the only child in our family. Kristy was born when Kacey was just 18 months old. In this picture Kristy is 4 months old and Kacey is 2. You can't really tell but Kacey's hair is in french braids. Yes, she defnitely had alot of hair. If she was Muslim, she probably would have been required to wear a hijab shortly after birth.



Kacey was the best big sister a family could hope for. She was happy and helpful and bossy and sweet. She set such a great example for her siblings. My advice to young parents is to start with a wonderful child and the rest will follow!



I love this picture of Kacey and Brad. She was always willing to help take care of her siblings.



Kacey wasn't always good, though! She could really act up on occasion and I have the proof. One
day I put Kacey down for a nap and instead of going right to sleep she pulled out a few books and decided to read herself to sleep. What a naughty child! That was pretty much Kacey's idea of rebellion.



Kacey was always smart as a whip! We found out at 20 months that she could recognize her letters. David and I were looking at a road atlas and the pages were lettered and Kacey started pointing to the top of the page and reading the letters. We were both so amazed because we had no idea that she could do this. As we quizzed her, we found that she could recogize all but a couple of letters in the alphabet. We would love to take credit for this, but we think we owe it all to Sesame Street!

One day at church, Kacey was about 3 and she was thumbing through a book as church was getting ready to start. It was a book that we had read to Kacey fairly often and she was telling herself the story and it was pretty much word for word. I wasn't paying much attention but the people in front of us were watching her and their eyes got really big and they said, "Your three-year-old can read?" And then I laughed at how that must have looked but I said, "No. She just has the book memorized." They thought that was pretty impressive too.



Kacey had just turned 5 when I realized that she could actually read. I know this probably sounds like we didn't know our daughter at all. I swear she was not in day care or anything, she just always learned things on her own without us teaching her. It was weird. We were walking into the eye doctor's office because she had to get glasses (see she's not so perfect!) and she said, "Fashion eyewear" which was printed on the door as we walked in. And I asked her how did you know that's what it said. And she said, "I just read it." Honest to goodness - the first words I heard her read were fashion eyewear. There was no Run Spot Run with this girl!

Here she is as Snow White for Halloween when she was 3.



Maybe it's because Kacey is 25 and the years have erased any bad memories I have of raising Kacey but I have to say that it was basically pure joy. I would love to go back and do it all again and just enjoy it. Since she was my first, I was pretty much just trying to get it all figured out and do a good job. Little did I know that Kacey was a wise old soul in a young body and that she could have done it all by herself. In fact, I probably should have just let her lead the way!

She grew into a beautiful woman...



And then a beautiful wife. Jon is one lucky guy but I think he knows that.



And now she is an amazing wife and mother of 2. Scarlet and Rhode don't have any idea how lucky they are to have Kacey as their mom. Just ask Kristy, Brad, Courtney, Kylie, Kendall and Bryan. She did alright with them!

Happy Birthday Kacey! I have loved every minute of the last 25 years since you joined me and Dad and made us a family. Thanks for everything!