Day 9- A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most

Kami Leslie Graves Huntsman

I am blessed to call this woman my sister. She and I are the filling in the Graves Girl sandwich.

Shannon ----> Bread

Kami -----> Peanut Butter

Kellie ------> Jelly

Jordan ------> Bread

Yum!

I was born almost 4 years after Kami. One of my favorite home videos is of Kami singing to be just moments after I got home from the hospital. The song is made up and she sings "Cause your my baby! and I love you!" It always warms my heart when I see it. Shannon and Kami seemed so excited to have a new baby sister.

Being much younger than Kami, she and I didn't get to go to school with each other, except for Elementary school but I don't really remember that. I remember watching Kami do awesome things with her life like go to seminary and dances and go on dates when she turned 16. I was so jealous of her life. I wanted to be just like her. When I finally got to Kentwood High School I was addressed as "Kami's sister" in 4 out of 6 of my classes. It was then followed by something to the extent of "you have big shoes to fill". At the time I was scared and upset. Kami did very well in school. But I fought my way through it and made a name for myself. With Kami's example of course :)

At the end of high school I had a traumatic breakup that left me in a bad place. I stopped doing a lot of things I normally did and kind of zoned out of life. I became obsessed with running. One day after running a couple miles I came back in my house and Kami was sitting on the stairs. I saw her and moved to the side to walk past her. She stood up and looked me deep in the eyes. She took my by the shoulders and shook my lightly. She told me I look like a zombie and she was worried about me. I don't remember what else she said but to me it felt like I had surfaced for air after being under water for a very long time.

I made the decision to go to BYU-Idaho. I was still in a bad place and luckily Kami was a four hour drive away. Whenever I needed to see her I would somehow find a ride to Provo or Logan and spend the weekend with her. I LOVED those weekends. Even though many of them were mini pity parties where we would eat an entire pan of rice krispy treats while watching Grey's Anatomy, it was exactly what I needed. Someone to wallow with.

Kami met Matt when she moved to Logan. I saw Kami change and be such a happy person. When you're around Kami and she's happy, it's hard not to be happy yourself. One of my favorite memories from my freshman year is the huge snowball fight we had at Kami's apartment. Matt (who later became my brother in law) fireman carried me and tossed me into a frozen river. I think he white washed Kami as well.

The next summer Kami and I were both home. She worked in Issaquah and I worked at the bakery. We took a ballet class together at Kent Parks. We would laugh at the crazy 60 year old women trying to do splits and try to be prim and proper ballerinas. She helped me see the fun in life.

I went to Central and Kami went back to Logan. She soon got married to Matt and became a permanent Utah resident. Thank goodness for the technology we now have. I know I can always call Kami if I need someone to talk to or if I have a question or if I just need someone to be on the phone with me. I don't know if Kami knows it or not but she is one of the only people who can get to me when I shut down. She can because I know she's not doing it for her own reasons, she's doing it because she unconditionally loves me as her little sister. I love her for that.

I love her example to me. If anything she's gotten me through the most because I want to be like her.