Becoming Bold

Do you ever wonder what it would take to change? I've been wondering this a lot lately. In my last post I talked about being myself. That's not so difficult. It requires a lot less effort to be my dorky self than it does to try and be cool all of the time. But no, this time I'm talking about an actual change. Changing a part of my personality that I'm not so thrilled with. What character trait could this be you ask? I tend to be timid. Now some of you just laughed out loud. Of course if you're one of my good friends, you don't see my timid side. (Or if you met me at school, since it's easier to change when no one knows you). But here at home, being bold with the people I've grown up with is kind of a problem.

When I was in elementary school I was far more bold. Even in Junior High it was fairly easy for me to stand out. But over the past few years I've been far more content to fade into the background. I'm not really willing to reach out and grab the things that I want. I'm self conscious and nervous about how I appear to others. This is what I want to change. I want to be comfortable with myself and more adventurous. I want to be willing to take a risk in order to get the things that I want. So this is what I'm going to work on right now. I'm changing myself and not allowing myself to be a recluse. I will never get anywhere that way! So everyone wish me luck and you can stop snickering at me. I have recently learned that people see me as a confident person that is not really shy or afraid of reaching out for what I want... well that is completely false. So no laughing at my expense. I just let you all in on a little secret about me so be so grateful!

Who's That Girl? It's Claire!

Alright so I recently watched the pilot episode to the show New Girl. And can I just rant and rave about how amazing it is? It's funny and clever and the humor actually made me laugh out loud. I don't laugh out loud while watching television. But I was rolling. I even paused it a few times to get my giggles out. Now a quick disclaimer, I relate to this show more than most so that's probably why I laughed so hard.

That being said, the show is about a girl named Jess who gets dumped. So she finds an apartment on Craig's list and ends up moving in with three guys. How does this relate to me you ask? Well Jess is a dork. She is random and silly. She loves singing to herself and even has a theme song. She makes a Lord of the Rings reference that made me die laughing and she's just great. Another thing, not every gets to see my absolutely dorky side. Generally I'm great at hiding the song I'm constantly writing in my head. And I try to be serious and make people think I'm normal. But let's be honest... the girl who sits in the back of class and sings a song about drawing Noah's Arc, without realizing she's doing it, is definetly classified as a dork. And I've decided to quit hiding my dorkiness. Because I personally feel as if it's fantastic. And it's slowly creeping out in the open anyway so I may as well just let my freak flag fly!

Just watch it. Trust me you will love it!!! And if not I don't want to hear about it? Mmmk? Thanks!

Summer Time Blues

So this summer has been fantastic! The time I've had with my family and friends is something I would never give up. I've been lucky enough to have a bunch of friends return from their missions and it's been great getting to know them again. I've spent the most time with Race! He's awesome and dang if I didn't miss that kid!
I am also sooo excited... Tyson got home on Monday! I've seen him a couple times but haven't got any really good hang out but it'll happen right? I love that kid and I'm not looking forward to him going to school in a week and leaving me... again :( But that's the way life works right?
So this weekend is the birthday of my most favorite baby in the whole wide world! One year ago today, at this time I was in Show Low with Devanie while she waited to have her baby. About 16 hours later I was blessed to meet the one and only Carter Lee Tate. Since then that boy has come to be the light of my life. I love him sooooo much! And I can't believe he's going to be one! So Happy Birthday to my Baby Carter Bug!

Wallow Fire Aftermath

Just a few pictures I took up Big Lake Road. I have about a hundred others.

Fire, Rain, and other exciting news...

Well as most everyone knows, we've recently had a fire. The Wallow fire... Unfortunately this fire has done everything but "wallow". It has burned near 500,000 acres and came close to town. We were able to evacuate and nothing in town was harmed. But it was interesting. We didn't see my Dad for more than 5 minutes a day (if we saw him at all) and we were breathing in smoke like it was the most natural thing in the world. Now our mountains are burned up and black. There are spots where the green remains but the vast majority of it is black in one way or another. My dad said that everything we know about our mountain is forever changed. It breaks my heart. But luckily the firefighters worked their tails off so the damage was minimal to residences and towns. I've never been so grateful for firefighters in my life. They don't get nearly enough recognition for all of the hard work they do. So this is my sincere thank you.

Now we're playing the waiting game to see what the rain will bring. It's been sprinkling off and on today but when the monsoons hit, they have us prepared for mass flooding. Isn't it ironic that one month you're afraid your home will burn to the ground and the next you have to worry about it washing away? Natural disasters are just not fun! But we are definitely praying for rain! The fire won't stop smoldering until we get a good rain in so keep us in your prayers, and thank you for all of the prayers said for us thus far.

This weekend is the long awaited 4th of July! I can't wait! It is my favorite holiday and I'm hoping it will bring some semblance of normalcy back into our lives. My friend Juelaine is coming to stay with us and she's afraid I'm going to convert her to "Village Life" by making her swim in Lyman and sleep on the porch... she will also have to attend various family gatherings... Ha it'll be interesting! In other news... Shilee graduated! Go Shorty! I'm so proud of her. And she will be going to EA come August. She's excited but my Mom is not! Race Davis gets home this weekend too! I can't wait to see him! Katie, Sydney, and I have a trip planned to see the final Harry Potter movie with him on the 14th. He'll be so excited... or he will pretend! :) Baby Carter is going to be one soon and that is just crazy to me! I love that little boy but I can't believe that a year ago we were waiting for him to get here! My favorite person in the whole world, Tyson Nicoll, gets home in about a month and I'm excited to have him back home. I've missed our mac & Cheese movie nights, and milk shakes, and watching scary movies, and just all of the random things we used to do. So it’ll be nice to see him for a while before he goes to school. Basically that's what's been going on in the village lately! Hopefully I'll get up on the mountain and get pictures of the Havoc for those of you who don't get to see it daily....

Bring on the Sunshine!

Summer time is just around the corner and I am so excited! I'm back at home and watching Ashton and Mark's little boy, Trey. He is adorable and generally very happy! We've had some rought days without any sleep and lots of screaming but I love it! I get to spend more time with my family and I actually know when I'm going to work.
I also get to spend a lot of time with my Grandma, Devanie and Carter. I love them so much! And can I just say that Carter is the light of my life! He always makes me happy and is the sweetest kid ever! I'm going to miss him soooo much when I go back to school.
I'm already excited for the Fourth of July! My friend Juelaine is coming and since she is the only reason I survived my last semester of school I can't wait to see her! She's the greatest! But on top of that, my friend Tess is thinking about coming too! I really hope she does because it's been over a year since I last saw her and I miss her so much! I'm really hoping they both make it down since they are both city girls and have never experienced a Round Valley 4th!
I also can't wait until June! A few friends are coming home from their missions and I can't wait to see them! Especially Race! Katie and I had an entire night dedicated to missing Race. It was absolutely fantastic! And I'm hoping he'll come watch the Last Harry Potter movie with me, since him and I started this Harry Potter fascination together, I feel as if we should end it together! So keep your fingers crossed for that one! And on top of that, Tyson gets home in July! I can't explain how excited I am for that one! These past two years without my best friend have been miserable!
So in general that's life up to this point! But there will definately be updates later!

General Conference Girl Drama

So on Saturday I was perfectly content sleeping in my bed, loving my Nyquil induced coma. For starters everyone should know that when I take Nyquil it knocks me out for hours and nothing wakes me up. Alright back to the story, I was sleeping and suddenly I hear yelling from downstairs. I woke up thinking that maybe the television was up really loud again (this roommate always has it up way loud). But then I hear Jaime's voice yelling too! I hear Jaime say "I'm just going to the room to watch conference!" and then the other roommate yells "Don't bother I'm leaving!" So she stomped upstairs and started packing and then the yelling started again! Basically the other roommate was yelling at Jaime about how all young adults are selfish and don't care about anyone else. Then yelled about how she's going through hell and she is so mad at us for not caring and how we didn't even try to get to know her and all kinds of crap! It was ridiculous and I was sitting in my room trying not to laugh. Because it was so bogus! The yelling just kept going and going and the other roommate finally packed up all of her stuff and moved out! Which isn't too horrible since we were all stressed and having problems and for some reason she just seems to bring it out. But after that it was great! We all bonded and watched conference at 406. Then we went to a bonfire with Jaime's friends from Alaska (we decided it would be funny to torture Scott by having me go). It was hilarious! It was basically a great weekend! I've gotten my pointless homework done that is going to get me no where in life. And I'm getting ready to get everything packed and cleaned and get the hell out of here! So keep your fingers crossed that this all goes well and I survive finals week!

The sun will come out... next Thursday???

Soooo wow my brain is so fried that I can't even think about what to type! So this past week, month, alright let's go with semester... anyway, this past semester has been obnoxious! It is absolutely time for me to be done with this semester! I have never been so stressed/ tired/ annoyed with my life! I can't handle the way my life is going right now! But as it turns out I only have one week left!!! So I thank the Lord daily for that blessing! And today I took the Idaho State Literacy test, just one of many that I have to pass before I can get my degree. And I feel absolutely confident about it! So I'm excited for that!

Last week I got to go down to Salt Lake to see Ross! He came up to see his girl friend Caitlyn, and I saw the perfect oportunity to escape! It was so much fun! We went to the festival of Colors and it was absolutely freezing! And for some reason people felt like they needed to throw the chalk directly in my face! They also thought Caitlyn's hair was a wonderful target for the chalk so that was entertaining. But we did so well at avoiding the hideous yellow chalk until Caitlyn's freind came and attacked her with the yellow chalk! Then Caitlyn, being the sweetheart that she is, attacked me back! How unfair is that?!? But it was great and I adore her! So that's fun! I also got to spend a lot of time with my friends from home and Tia! So it was great and I loved my vacation! And now we are getting ready to go watch Tangled at the dollar theatre! So I better head out! But first I'll post some pictures of the festival!

You find out who your friends are...

So this past week has been.... Stressful?, Amazing?, Emotional?, Exhausting?, Awkward?, and possibly a little Overwhelming? Why all of the question marks? Because I am still confused by all of the madness that has gone on in such a short period of time. The good news is I have survived another week at BYU-I. The even better news is I only have to survive 3 more weeks. But the overall greatest news is that I have been the luckiest person alive. Most people have one home, one apartment, one set of roommates, well I have two. Sure Hillcrest 23 is where I sleep (sometimes) and where I eat (occasionally) But 406 is my home. When I get stressed or tired or happy or anything, that's where I go. Those girls welcome me with open arms and are absolutely the greatest friends anyone could ask for. We have tons of fun together and they can always manage to make any day a wonderful one! So this is my shout out to 406, where my best college memories have been made.
So speaking of great college memories, last weekend Jue and I decided we needed a fat night. But where to have it? I was fed up with my apartment and Jue didn't want to be in hers either. So of course we decide to head over to 406. So after a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up the essentials (cookie dough, ice cream, cool whip, fake mustaches) we make our way to that paradise known as 406. But alas we ran into a serious problem... the door was locked! How are we supposed to get into our beloved oasis if they lock the door on us?!? But no need to worry, Jue and I, Being the resourceful people that we are, broke in! First we tried the front windows but they were both locked. So we head around back. We break into a window and as Jue starts climbing in I hear a whispered exclamation "wrong apartment! Wrong apartment!" She quickly backed out and we got the window closed. After we managed to compose ourselves, we broke into Cami's window (this time in the correct apartment). I tell Jue to unlock the door and let me in up front. I heard a loud thunk but ignored it and ran to the front door. It turns out Jue had fallen off of Cami's bed and onto the floor which was absolutely hilarious. So we pre-heat the oven and get the single giant heart shaped cookie baking and decide that we need to scare Wholia! So we turn off the lights and hide in the bathroom (wearing our awesome fake mustaches). Pretty soon we hear Wholia enter the house... she was on the phone with her mom and she turns off the oven (poor cookie) and talks to her mom! She wasn't even headed our direction! Well after ten minutes of waiting for her to decide to come to the back of the apartment we decided to help her out... we hid in the shower and flushed the toilet (Brooke and Lindsey were both out of town and Cami was on a date so Wholia knew that no one should be home). We waited in silence as she walked back and flipped on the light. She just stood outside the door, not close enough for our sneak attack. Finally I couldn't contain my giggles so Jue jumped out and scared her. It was Hilarious!!!! I thought she might kill us but no worries I'm alive to tell the tale. It was fantastic, what followed was a night of criminal minds and photo shoots with Lewey (the Jewish fish). So that is just one of my fantastic tales from that fantastic mystical land known to the lucky refugee as 406.

Top Ten

So I saw this top ten thing on a friends blog, and as it turns out I’m bored so I figured I’d fill it out and give a little more information about me! So here are my top ten's!


Top 10 Favorite Foods
1. Tacos from Booga’s
2. Rellenos from Booga’s
3. Hamburgers from anywhere
4. French Fries
5. Camille Webb’s Rice Crispies!!!!
6. Papa’s Red Chili
7. Dad’s Green Chili
8. Burritos from Short Stop
9. Chubby Chicken Sandwich from Buzz’s (I’m going to miss them like crazy!)
10. Cheeze It’s!!!


Favorite Movies
1. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
2. A Knight’s Tale
3. Pirates of the Caribbean movies
4. Everything You Want
5. Peter Pan
6. Remember the Titans
7. Sword in the Stone
8. Tangled
9. Leap Year
10. Inception
(These top ten are not at all binding and will probably change within the hour. But right now I would willingly watch any of them and they are pretty good fall back movies.)

Top 10 Favorite Places
1. Eagar, Arizona
2. The 409 Road
3. Moab, Utah
4. Saffle Canyon 4-Wheeler trail (as long as Tia is not in control of a 4-wheeler)
5. The Movie Theatre
6. Booga’s
7. Anywhere with my family
8. The Beach
9. Roosevelt
10. Grandma’s House


Top 10 Favorite Things to do: (in no particular order)
1. Read
2. Camp
3. Watch Movies
4. Ride 4-wheelers
5. Fishing (or just being on the lake)
6. Watching the Elks play football
7. Eating
8. Listening to Music
9. Ramsey Family Game Night or Bonko with the Eagar’s
10. Anything with my friends


Top 10 Qualities I think I possess:
1. Loyalty
2. Friendliness
3. Respect
4. Patriotism
5. Pride (in family, country, town, state, etc.)
6. Strength (Spiritual)
7. Happiness
8. Love
9. Care for others
10. Determination


Top 10 Negative Qualities
1. I complain a lot
2. I’m easily frustrated
3. I get annoyed with adults who are childish all the time, Children can act that way but others need to just grow up! There is a time and place for that.
4. I try way too hard
5. I swear
6. I tend to sleep a lot
7. I’m incredibly stubborn
8. I’m a big procrastinator
9. I don’t like to “put myself out there”
10. I don’t work out like ever… (Not that I mind all that much)


Top 10 Favorite Bands/ Artists
1. George Strait
2. Boys Like Girls
3. Josh Turner
4. Taylor Swift
5. *Nsync (yes I still listen to them, don’t judge)
6. Avril Lavigne
7. Chris Cagle
8. Easton Corbin
9. Brooks and Dunn
10. Carrie Underwood
(This is just like the movie column; it can change any second, with the exceptions of George and Josh)

Top 10 Places to get clothing
1. JcPenny
2. Charlotte Rousse (I love their Refuge Jeans)
3. Aeropostale (Best sweatshirts for the price)
4. Shilee
5. Kohl’s
6. Ross
7. Wet Seal (Just got the cutest jeans from there)
8. Hand me downs
9. Connexion 23 in Rexburg
10. Target


Top 10 Qualities I look for in a Guy:
1. Eyes! You’ve got to have amazing eyes. But very seldom do I look at someone and say “wow they have the worst eyes ever!”
2. Laugh- If you have an icky laugh I just can’t handle it
3. Personality- Now I’m not sure what personality I like best, so basically just have one and we’ll see how it works
4. Work Ethic- You’ve got to be able to work and to love working outside with your hands.
5. Outdoors- Don’t love camping, fishing and enjoying the great outdoors? Well turn around and walk away
6. Stubborn- I am the most stubborn person in the world, and I don’t want someone who can’t stand up to me. I love being right but I love someone willing to stand up for themselves too.
7. Spiritual- The first person in any relationship should be the Lord. If you can’t bring something to the table spiritually then don’t waste my time.
8. Family- Family is the most important thing in my life. Anyone not willing to accept that and love my family as is has no place with me. You also have to be able to handle a big family.
9. Strength- I’m a girl, I have breakdowns, I have problems and I need someone willing to be there for me and not walk away. I hate the macho “manly- men” who don’t deal with crying or temper tantrums. I need someone who’s strong enough to be sweet and gentle.
10. Joy- I want someone who’s happy! Don’t get me wrong we’re all moody and there’s nothing wrong with being mad or sad or anything else. But I want someone who is happy with life and happy with me.


Top 10 Fears
1. Spiders
2. The Dark
3. Drowning
4. Losing family and friends
5. Waking up and realizing I’ve done nothing with my life
6. Heights- it’s a love hate relationship
7. Earwigs- they’re just creepy
8. Dementors- Yes they are fictional but don’t judge until you’ve had a dream that dementors that look like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito are chasing you…
9. Being Depressed-
10. Randomly falling and seriously injuring myself


Top 10 Important things: (random or whatever)
1. Family- I wouldn’t be here without them
2. Friends- Let’s face it, they make the world go round
3. Smile-
4. Service
5. Food
6. Sunshine
7. Love
8. Home
9. Knowledge
10. Sleep


Let’s face it, I’m a home body. That’s because everyone important to me is right around home so what more do I need? I have a fantastic life and I wouldn’t trade it for anything! I’m hard to deal with but anyone who can put up with me is obviously worth keeping around. I am learning to love trying new things and I’m growing and changing. That’s the best thing about the single college life; you get to learn exactly who you are and where you stand! Overall I’d say you can’t sum me up by having me list ten things, but it sure is fun to try!

Just another manic... Tuesday?

Wow! Life changes so quickly and there are so many ups and downs. Luckily I have the gospel in my life. Without it I would be totally lost. Recently I dated a guy who was my roommate's ex-boyfriend. He was a great guy and super good to me. But what it came down to was we had only known eachother for a couple weeks and he was talking like we were engaged (I actually had a few people think we were engaged), we are heading seperate ways in life, he wasn't active in the church, and he reminded me of someone else. That was a huge part of it, it wasn't fair to him for me to come home after spending all day with him and think about someone else. He always brought that other guy to mind and as hard as that would've been on him, I think it was worse on me. I've been working hard to grow up and move on and he was making it almost impossible! So he is gone and I am not sad. I'm actually relieved and I don't even feel bad about breaking up with him. Nonnie says that's a sign that it wasn't right. I'd have to agree with her on that one! Oh and another primary reason for the break-up, I prayed about it and the Lord said no... what more of a reason do I need right? But you all know how I am. I feel so bad that I don't feel bad and I'm giving myself this ridiculous guilt trip. No worries I really am fine!

So on to a new topic! School is kicking my butt! I honestly don't know what to do with myself. Don't get me wrong, I have 13 credits and I don't have a ton of homework. Instead the problem happens to be the professors. So in college you hear "Don't take this professor!" Well I happen to be taking every one of my classes from those professors that you are warned about. Do you have any idea how hard it is to go to class when the teacher has no idea what their talking about? Or when they or crazy! It's a serious struggle for me! My grades are fine, and my social life is great. But seriously? Every bad teacher in one semester? TORTURE! But the good news is that I have a job! I work custodial in the Manwaring Center from 9 a.m. to Noon. Generally I'd think it's horrible, but I have so much fun! I work with some of the greatest people in the world! Zina is the other girl I work with, her and I hit it off from the first day! I love that girl and we have so much fun. Then there are the boys, Jason and Bryce... now don't get any bright ideas, Jason is happily married and Bryce is getting married in April. But the greatest thing about these boys? They are just like Ross and his friends! They treat Zina and I like little sisters and are hilarious! I absolutely love them!

And finally, why was today a manic tuesday? Well as it turns out, I've been drinking a ton ton ton of water, and peeing just as much, plus I'm exhausted 99.9% of the time, and I crave sweets like you wouldn't believe, but even with all of these sweets I'm still losing enough weight for my roommates to take notice. For those of you who don't know, these are all symptoms of Diabetes. So my roommates are freaking out because they're positive I have diabetes. I'm not freaking out or anything but I'm thinking they may be right. So I'm going to get tested eventually but no worries! I'm alive and well. It's just that all of these symptoms make it hard to go to class. So I ditched my class today and I have no motivation to get things done for classes tomorrow! Oh the life of a college student is thrilling! But life is fantastic! I have been so happy these past few weeks! Yeah I'm not happy 100% of the time but overall I'm happy. The worst thing? Home sickness! This winter has been torture here. I miss the sunshine and everything that home has to offer. So I talk about home a lot and day dream about it! So RV look out! I'll be home in April and then you'll all get to deal with me!