Eighteen

I'm not sure what the heck has happened, or who told her she could do it, but Nicole has turned 18 and is now a legal, voting adult.

Erik and I must have done something especially great in Heaven to be chosen to be Nicole's parents.

There is one word that pretty much sums up her whole existence. That word is awesome.

She excels in everything she does, she makes the world better place every single day, and she doesn't give herself any credit for anything good that she does. She's almost perfect.

Three weeks before her birthday, she announced that she wanted to have a dance to celebrate her big day.

By some miracle, the ward house was available on her birthday (the only day out of the whole month it was not already reserved!), so we booked it, made up 100 invitations and then Erik and I left on a cruise. :)

The night we got back, Erik disappeared for a few hours working on a little surprise we had for her birthday gift. I started working on decoration and food ideas for her party.

The day of her party, my lifesaver of a friend, Christy, and her children helped me decorate the gym and get everything ready while we waited for Nicole to come home from school.

Inside the garage, her surprise waited for her....

And this was her reaction.....
It was priceless. She cried and laughed and screamed and cried some more.

Then the party began....

In all the excitement, I neglected to take a picture of the birthday girl in all her sparkly dress-high heeled-gorgeousness, but I did manage to snap one blurry shot of the party.
It was a birthday to remember.

I'm so excited to see what her future will bring- she is just 5 months away from graduating and then she'll be off and running.

Happy Birthday Nicole! Thanks for letting us share it with you!