You may think the house is quiet.......

One child left at home.  How lonely.  How quiet.  How boring, you may think.  Well that all might be true if you had just an average child as your youngest.  But we have an exceptionally fun, talented, noisy child for our youngest and when she is home, my life is sweet!

1.  Exceptionally fun:  Claire knows how to make everything fun.  She is very optimistic and quick to laugh. 
2.  Talented:  This girl plays the piano, violin, and ukulele.  Her New Year's Resolution is to learn to play the guitar.  She has a beautiful singing voice and just got a solo in her choir, and a part in the musical which is hard to do as a Freshman girl.  She is very good at cake/cupcake decorating, too.  She also is a fantastic Clogger/Tap Dancer.
3.  Noisy:  Most of you may think of Claire as a quiet, reserved girl.  Oh let me tell you, there's so much more to her!  After living with her for 14 1/2 years I can assure you she is NOT quiet!  



New Year's Eve 2013



With Rosalyn on her blessing day 2013

First Day of High School 2013

I was 38 and kept having those feelings, "Is there one more?"   I really wasn't sure I wanted to do the baby thing again.  After all, Mike was 4.  Laura was 16.  But there is not a day that goes by that I don't feel so much love and gratitude that Claire came, and right when she did.  She has been the Exclamation Point to the Bates Family! 

The whole time I was expecting Claire, we had decided if she was a girl, to name her Anne and call her Annie.  Ha, ha, we laugh about that now when she came out with red hair!  How awful if we hadn't been inspired about a month before her birth, to name her Claire.  Claire was Laura's name in her French class that year.  So we sort of named her after Laura?  We like to laugh that both Michael and Claire have stores named after them.

When I first saw the red hair, I couldn't believe it!  Red hair had never entered my mind!

Fun Facts about Claire:  She has braces and is hoping to have them off before the wedding.   She is very feminine and I thought for sure she was going to be a ballet dancer.  But she would much rather kick up her heels and make lots of NOISE.  She loves her seminary class and occasionally plays the piano there.  She takes excellent care of our cats.   She loves to play games.  She was just called as Mia Maid President.  She always, always wears her CTR ring.  She loves her older siblings and they are so good to her.  They call, text, and give her advice. She loves to make lists and countdowns.  She reads her scriptures every day.  She loves church dances.  This summer she is doing a BYU clogging camp, EFY, Girls Camp, and Trek. 

My life is so much better because Claire is in it.