Jaden's 1st adventure with Young Mens

Now that Jaden is 12 he gets to go to Young Men's or Mutual which it the Youth Group for the teenagers in our church. For his 1st activity they met at the church and then went and did a service project of stacking firewood for a widow in our ward (congregation). After the work was done it was tie to play... so they took the boys out on the lake for some fun Water Skiing. Poor Jaden has never been water skiing and he didn't get up on the wake board very well. But he still had a blast and thought is was a pretty cool 1st activity. This week he gets to go rock wall climbing. Pretty cool! He is gong to love this! How did he get so grown up so fast? It seems like yesterday they were handing him to me in the delivery room.

Jaden is 12, A very BIG deal!

Jaden turned 12 this month and for him this was a BIG deal! He has been so excited for his birthday he even made a little calendar to hang in his room that had numbers to pull off for each day. We did lots of fun parties for him. (pictures below) But the crowning event was Sunday Aug 17th at church when he was ordained by his dad to receive the Aaronic Priesthood. He is such a great kid and we are so very proud of him. He was so cute preparing for his interview with the Bishop. I think he was expecting a quiz on how much he knows about the gospel cuz he kept asking me questions for weeks. I kept telling him not to worry so much and that he was just fine. He has always been like that. He is such a good kid he just wants to be the best he can.

Honestly I have no idea how I got a kid that is such a strong young man. He has an amazing ability to choose the right. And he worries about his loved ones when they makes choices that he knows are not right. (believe me, I have had many a lessons from him about not swearing. LOL) And even though I still am not old enough for him to be 12 I am very very proud of him. The day they ordained him we all got a chance to tell him how we feel about him and his choices. It was so cool. There was such a special spirit in the room with us. I wish I would have written down all the nice things people said to him. He was beaming from ear to ear.

This last Sunday he was able to serve the Sacrament. He was once again so nervous that he would do something wrong. Of course he did just fine. He did giggle a little when he got to his best friends row. He said "Kaden and his mom were trying not to laugh so then I was trying not to laugh. So I just quit looking at them" He is a hoot. This next week he gets to collect the fast offerings and for that he is super excited!

For any one that is not a member of the LDS faith here is some info on the Aaronic Priesthood
In the LDS Church today, worthy male members may receive the Aaronic Priesthood beginning at age 12. These young men, typically ages 12–17, receive many opportunities to participate in sacred priesthood ordinances and give service. As they worthily fulfill their duties, they act in the name of the Lord to help others receive the blessings of the gospel.

More on my faith: http://mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/ or http://lds.org

I hope he can continue to make good choices and be as strong as he has been. He is an amazing person. And also because if he is a teenager like I was... I will lock him in a cage and throw away the key. LOL

Now for the Birthday Festivities:

Of course we had a big family and cousins party. For this we went to the pool.
Jaden, my other kids and the cousins enjoying the sun.

Jaden and Cousin Necia checking out his new long board that he got.

His other favorite gift... he put together all his birthday money and bought himself
a Digital Video Camera. (using dad's employee discount of course) LOL Spoiled Kid!

We went Bowling with some of his best friends.
More pictures of the friend party. (notice that we cut off the blond hair so it was just tips by the time we did pictures at the church and for school to start)
We also had the Grandma's and Grandpa's all go to dinner with us at Brick Oven. YUMMY!!!
This was his special request, and that we got a baby sitter for the little kids so it was special just for him.

Happy Birthday Young Man!!!

Last year to be a kid.. next year he is officially a teenager. YUCK!