My name is Katy, short for Kathryn. I’ve been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints since I was baptized at the age of eight years old. My parents were raised Mormon. My grandparents were raised Mormon. Their grandparents were raised Mormon…..I could keep going back to my pioneer relatives who crossed the plains, but that’s not why I am who I am.

My parents taught me from a very early age that I needed to find out for myself who I was and what my purpose on this earth was, if there was any. I had the best mom and dad. They made sure I knew I was loved and cared for. They made sure my three brothers and two sisters felt the same. But they also wanted me to learn how to stretch my “wings” and fly on my own.

When I was a senior in high school, I hung out with a wide variety of friends. Our own little “breakfast club” if you will. We had Jehovah Witnesses, Catholics, Agnostics, and even a Pentecostal minister in our group. I looked forward to lunch period every day, because we had the best conversations…about anything and everything. We’d discuss our religions, our own personal beliefs, our fears, our hopes, our individual relationships with God….and what was so cool was that we “got” each other.

I loved to answer their questions about Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, how I wanted to one day be married in the temple and why it was such a sacred place to me. It was in those conversations with my friends that I realized my own testimony of the beliefs I’d been taught my entire life. I knew what I was sharing was true, was right, was real, and was what I needed in my life forever.

After high school, I continued on to college and on in my journey of self-discovery. When I was 21, I met Dave, who was also a member of the Mormon Church as I was. We fell in love and were married in the temple for time and all eternity, not just till death. That has been such a comfort for us, knowing that even after this life, we will be together forever as we keep the commandments of God and strive to be like our Savior, Jesus Christ. We’ve been married for over 10 years and have three beautiful children. My oldest, our Hannah, just turned eight and made the decision to be baptized.

I enjoy being a stay-at-home mom. I enjoy serving in my community and in my church. I love my children and feel it is my responsibility to be the best mother I can so that they can have every opportunity I had as a child to learn and to grow and to become who it is they want to be. I want them to gain a testimony of how special they are, as is every child in this world. That they are children of God, that they have a Savior who loves them and knows them and wants them to have every happiness possible.

May every person in this world one day feel those same things in their hearts as I hope my children do.

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