'Framily' remember Nicol Kimura 1 year after she was killed in Las Vegas mass shooting

ORANGE COUNTY (KABC) -- When friends think of Nicol Kimura, they think of her smiling, laughing and dancing. She was a ball of energy and the life of the party.

"She just made everything so fun. She just made an event feel so special even it was something like going to a concert," Michelle Miller said.

Ryan and Michelle Miller are part of a group of friends who are so close they call themselves "framily." They did everything together, including going to last year's Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas.

"Even though I think we saw 14 shows in 2017 before we got to Route 91, all we kept talking about was the best weekend of the year," Ryan said.

They all stood together during Jason Aldean's set, with Ryan recording it on his phone. A closer listen to the video captured the first shots that rang out.

"The ground got lit up. Sparks were coming off the ground. Smoke. We thought that some idiot had let fireworks of again," Ryan said.

Then, volley after volley and the group realized they were under heavy fire. They eventually ran and that's when Michelle saw Nicol.

"I said Nicol's bleeding, but she wasn't moving and she wasn't talking. It had never crossed my mind that she had actually been hit," Michelle said.

In the chaos, they were all separated. As Ryan and Michelle made it to the Tropicana, they got a call from their friend Chad - Nicol was dead.

"That was the moment when I lost it. I just absolutely lost my mind. I couldn't believe that he was saying what he was saying," Ryan said.

In the year since Oct. 1, the Millers began processing the tragedy. Michelle realized the bullet grazed her hat, just millimeters from her head. But Nicole's death still doesn't seem real.

"We're going to be at somebody's house and she's just going to walk in. It's not a reality, but it doesn't seem like what happened is either, you know?" Ryan said.

The framily all got tattoos to honor Nicol - but she's left a much deeper mark on them all. A reminder to be joyful and a promise to love at all times.

"I want to love the people around me really hard and just enjoy every experience that I'm blessed to experience," Michelle said.