Katelyn's 12!

I am officially a mother of a Young Woman. How did that happen? I'm not old enough for this. Turning 12 in our house brings new adventures....make-up, Young Women's at church, Girl's Camp, MIDDLE SCHOOL, and many other things she thinks she needs because all of her friends do.  For example, a cell phone.  Not happening. We'll hold off on that one for as long as I can. Not ready to go down that road of no return.

Katelyn did have a big swim party with all of her friends up at Green Canyon. This is the only picture I got before my camera went dead. Ugh!

One of the main things that Katelyn has been most excited about now that she is 12 is doing baptisms for the dead. Our Stake doesn't haven't any scheduled for awhile and she didn't want to wait. So she and her cousin Savannah went and got their recommends and Josh and I took them the week she turned 12. Josh's mom got them little baptism bags to take with them to the temple. They are so cute. The girls got to do some family names so it made the experience that much more special.

(Katelyn & Savannah with their recommends.)

The other fun thing she got to be a part of now that she is 12 is she got to participate in our Stake Pioneer Handcart Trek. A lot Stakes require you to be 14 so we felt pretty lucky that she could go. There were over 600 youth from our Stake on the Trek so it was a very large crowd. We bought the material for her skirt, apron and bonnet and helped make it. They were all asked to walk in honor of a pioneer, preferably a ancestor if you had one. She walked in honor of a pioneer ancestor on my side named Sarah Goode Marshall. She is known as "The First Lady of all the Handcarts" because she was the first person from the very first handcart company to cross over into the Salt Lake Valley. And she did it as a single mother with 6 children. She has an amazing story and it was neat for Katelyn to get to know her and have that opportunity.

So I guess this is my last year before I officially have a TEENAGER! Wow, where has time gone??