I was born on June 22, 1991 in
Tacoma Washington to Cynthia Anne Clawson and Kirk Ladd Davies. I was born into
a pretty unique situation; my dad is a lawyer in the United States Air Force.
Because of this I have moved on average every two to three years of my life. So
when I was only a few months old I moved to the Azores, which are islands in
the Atlantic Ocean off of Portugal. In 1993 when I was 2 I moved to Incirlik,
Turkey. I probably mention I have an older sister Kathryn Rebecca Davies, and
on February 5, 1994 my brother Bradford Clawson Davies was born. I don’t really
remember much from this part of my life I vaguely remember our house in Turkey,
and going to the market with my mom.
In
1995 my family and I moved to Prattville, Alabama. My neighbors in Alabama were
the Cochran family, they were also a Air Force family and we have been
fortunate to stay friends with them and live near them more than once. Nellie
Cochran and my sister were probably my best friends at this time. Some of the
things we did for fun were: feeding the horses by our house, picking
raspberries, playing Barbies, and spending endless hours jumping on her
trampoline. One year for Thanksgiving we decided to put on a play for our
families. In the play Kat, and I were pilgrims who shared their religion with
the Nellie and brad who were natives. We were awesome. Also at this time I went
into the first grade, my teacher was Ms. Ernest who was plump older woman with
white hair. While living in Alabama Kat got head lice at school, this resulted
in my mom cleaning almost every thing we owned hair brushes to stuffed animals.
Also while living in Alabama my dad was deployed to Saudi Arabia, I don’t
remember how I felt during this time but I do remember my mom being really
stressed out.
In
1998 my family moved to Charlottesville Virginia for a year, during that time
my dad went to school. I was 7 years old and in the second grade, this was
probably the best year of school in my entire life, no joke. I had a great
teacher named Ms. Yow. I think this was my favorite year because I got to learn
about stuff that I like for example we learned about the Egyptians, and
Chinese. Also we got to make trail mix, and on Fridays we would go sell it to
the fourth graders. It was way fun.
June
22, 1999 I was baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus of Christ of Latter
Day Saints in West Jordan Utah. I am so grateful to have been raised in home
where my parents taught me the gospel, and have taught me the importance of the
gospel in my life.
That
same summer my family and I moved to Aviano, Italy. If you ask me the favorite
place to live, its Italy hands down. When we moved to Italy my parent asked me
and my siblings if we would rather go to school on base with the American kids
or, go to Italian school off base. We choose to go to Italian, it was one of
the hardest things I have ever done, but it is also one of the most awesome
things I have ever done. Here is a
snapshot of my first day of school:
I look up past the black uniforms
surrounding me at all sides. My eyes flick back and forth for my sister. Brown
ponytail? One, two…four…six...too many to count. Purple backpack?
Nothing. My stomach sinks to new depths, and the fluttering butterflies
are joined by flapping birds trying to escape their cage. I turn to face my new
school, but I can’t see much through the embracing students greeting each other
after a long summer. I look up to see an unusually tall third grader speaking English,
and saying something about her American dad or is it her mom… I try to respond
but the words never make it out of my mouth because every part of me is focused
on not crying. My eyes begin to sting from the grey smoke curling out of the
lips of vogue mothers. They stare at me with judging eyes that say, “you
don’t belong here,” spitting out rapid Italian. I feel trapped in a grey
box that is my new schoolyard surrounded by voices I don’t believe I will ever
understand. How will I communicate? Posse go bango? No, that’s not
right…can I go al bagno? How am I supposed to go school if I can’t even
ask to go to the bathroom? A tear falls from my hazy eyes. I look around for
comfort but all I see is a circle of girls looking down on me with curious
eyes. I want to escape to my mom and bury my fears in her embrace. A clear bell
rings, there is no going back.
After about a year I was fluent in
Italian, and didn’t have many problems communicating at school. Italian school
is very different from American school; the schools are not decorated at all,
and the teachers are very strict.
While
living in Italy I also had some other amazing experience such as going to Rome,
Venice, London, and Paris. I am so grateful for the opportunities I have had to
see the world, and I try not to take them for granted. The experiences I have
had to see the world have shaped who I am today.
When I was eleven my family moved
to San Antonio, Texas, this was a huge change. I remember the first time I met
my neighbors. I girl named Emily came over with her brother Chad. They were so
excited to have new neighbors but all I remember was hearing their accents and
thinking where the heck am I? While living in Texas I joined the Texas
Children’s Choir. We met every Tuesday and Thursday for choir practice. We
often sang at military functions and at concerts in the local area, we sang at
the state capitol, and went on a trip to New Orleans. The highlight of being in
the choir was the tour to Europe. We traveled to France to sing at the 60th
anniversary of the D-Day invasion. While we were there we sang at the Norte Dam
Cathedral, and in various churches in France and England. This trip was amazing
I am so blessed for the opportunities I have had in my life. One this trip I
went with my dad because he would sometimes direct the choir or play the piano,
it was really cool to share that experience with him.
Also
while living in Texas I started junior high. Although I have moved many times
it is very hard for me to make friends. In 7th grade I really had
one friend at school and that was Lindsay Hillhouse.
When
I was 13 I moved to Cheyenne Wyoming, I had never lived in a place so small
before and it came with its own challenges. One of them was getting involved in
activities; many people did not want outsiders in these activities. At school I
was in chamber singers and jazz choir. My first year there my best friend was Camdeyn,
we had quite a few classes together and we would hang outside of school every
so often. What was hard about being Camdeyns friend was that a lot of her old
friends were kind of sketchy and I felt uncomfortable hanging out with them.
The next year I made a new group of friends mostly with people from choir.
While living in Cheyenne I also got to go on Trek at Martins Cove. This was an
amazing and spiritual experience.
When
I was 15 I moved to Springfield, Virginia. While living in there I started color
guard and did three fall seasons, I was in the Music Man at school. My senior
year I was accepted into Applied History. While taking this class I volunteered
at Mt. Vernon. I would go every Thursday and Friday and every other Saturday.
Most of my days were spent working on essays. I didn’t always enjoy my time
there but looking back I was so blessed so work there. Also while living in
Virginia I graduating high school on June 15, 2009, after I graduated I went to
Virginia beach for the weekend with some friends it was super fun!
A month later in July I moved with
my family to Okinawa Japan. I lived there for a semester before I went to
school. While living there I worked at the bookstore at the BX.
My first semester at school I lived
in the dorms. My roommate was Lindsay Adams, and the other girls were Chante
green and Jessica Cotrell, semester I lived with with Ellie Harnish and Hannah,
and again with Lindsay.
In 2011 I moved into Carriage
House, and I had amazing roommate: Linsday Adma, Emily Ham, Hailey Farrar, Averi
Hansen, Briana Kerr. The next semster I lived with Lindsay, Hailey, Averi,
Meagan Bott, and Jenica Hansen.
In the fall of 2011 I went to
Mexico and taught English. My host family was Oco, Pepe, Diego, Salma, and
Danny. The girls I taught with were Tracy, Sylvia, Alicia, and Ali. I loved
Mexico and I miss it so much, more
about that later.
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