The Happiest Moment of My Life!

Ok, so this is going to sound SO geeky, but this is seriously the happiest moment of my life! So as some of you may know I decided at the beginning of this year to switch my major from Music Education with an emphasis in flute to Flute Performance. This is a huge deal, it requires a new audition and it is twice as hard to get into, Flute Performance has a suggested 4 hours of practice a day, Music Ed only suggests 1 or 2. BIG deal! When I first told my flute professor this she said 'Ok... well maybe you'll be ready to audition by Spring Jury." Whenever I brought it up on lessons she sorta just blew it off, like I wouldn't ever be ready for it. Last week she told me that she was acting that way to make sure I was motivated enough to get it myself, and she knew that I was now ready for it! So yesterday she told me that we were moving my audition up to the jury in December!! It is so amazing to see my hard work pay off!! I couldn't help but be the most excited person ever!

The "Boy"

Ok... well you all asked about the boy. Here it goes. He isn't the boy anymore. There was this guy I met in band. I thought he was really great. I thought he was really cute. I thought the fact that he wasn't a member wouldn't be an issue. Boy was I wrong. I didn't have a problem with him. We cuddled and held hands the entire trip. People noticed. And then, when I should have started liking him more, I began to feel uncomfortable. It felt so wrong. I kept thinking about my future. I kept thinking of my Heavenly Father. I prayed about it... a lot, and today, I told him that it just wouldn't work. I have dreams of having a very religious family, of being married in the temple, of a husband who respects me as a Daughter of God and loves Heavenly Father just as much as I do. I need someone who will go to sacrament with me, someone whose mere prayers will make my heart swoon. I realized that he was a great friend, but I was more crazy about the idea of a boyfriend than the actual boy. I feel miserable. I wish I could take back the hand holding and the hopes I gave him, but I can't. I just knew that I had to stop it now, before we grew even closer, and I definitely didn't want any more regrets. We have decided to still be friends.

I'm so happy for trials such as this. It makes me realize how true the church is and makes me feel even closer to Heavenly Father. I'm so happy that He was there to listen to my prayers and let me know what I needed to do. I wish I had listened to Him sooner, but I'm so happy that He knows me and knows what I need in life. I'm so happy to know that He will always be there, and that He has someone out there that will be right for me.

So... the REAL "Boy" Requirements:

Must be a strong member of the church, temple marriage is non-negotiable.
Being cute is definitely nice
Cannot be overly prideful, it is SUCH a turn off
Must be light and playful sometimes, but serious at others
Must be able to understand that practicing 4 hours a day is a BIG requirement in my life
Must be interested in going to Broadway Musicals, Symphony Concerts, etc.
Ability to at least pretend to understand my musical jargon, excitements, etc. is helpful
Must be able to provide for a family, flute playing doesn't bring in that much money
MUST be good with kids, and be ok with having 4-8 children
And Finally...
Must have a crazy fun family, and be able to keep up with my even crazier family!

My Motto:: "Every day I pray that God made someone tolerable enough to put up with my unique ways, and that I'm understanding enough to put up with his"

If anyone knows a guy of this description... WHY AM I NOT DATING HIM YET!? Seriously folks, hook the little sister up!

My Dearest Sisters

While packing today for the band trip that will be taking place over the weekend (yes, there will be pictures), I finally realized how my sisters have taught me the most important lesson of all. It's ALLL about the size of your cosmetics bag! I remember as a child being befuddled as how Rachel could have enough stuff to fit into that giant bag (which was always amazingly cute). Being in college, I've grown a little older, a little wiser, and evidently way more interested in my looks! I'm sure I wouldn't pack 1/2 this stuff if there wasn't the cute guy on the band trip to impress, but I now have a bag the size of Rachel's that is packed full. The sad part is: I still feel like I'm skimping out on myself!! No hairspray... I'm praying someone else will have theirs, no straightener, my hair looks hot without being straightened now (:D!), I'm planning on using the hotel's free body wash, covering up all body parts so shaving won't be required. The things we do for boys, or more, the impression of. So girls, remember life's biggest lesson, which I was lucky enough to get from my older sisters, it's ALLL about the size of your cosmetics bag!

The New-Doo

So I just barely got my hair cut today, I wanted something different. Mine was really unruly and wasn't keeping form very well. The girl who cut my hair had very similar hair to mine, fine, flat, and unruly, so she gave me some great hints on how to make it look good when styling, and gave me a great cut for my hair and face!! I was super happy, so I wanted to show you all the new look!

Happy Halloween!

We had a floor decorating party last night. Not many people turned up. Actually, at one point, it was just me, my roommate, our RA, and his girlfriend decorating, but it doesn't matter because it still looks beyond awesome if you ask me. Sadly i don't think you can see any of the decorations in the pictures.. well... besides the ones we're playing with...

Our RA, Matt, making the torn creepy cloth look more torn and creepy. We now understand why cats get such a kick out of destroying things, it's super fun!

The decorating crew. Janis playing with balloons up front, Matt taping behind her, and Lauren streamering behind him

It wouldn't be fun if we didn't have a balloon sword fight

Me with sexy spider web hair.

Matt making another Torn Creepy Cloth live up to it's description... except I think he's stuck...

Luau Laughs and Sudsy Service

Time to fill you all in, once again, on the joyous ways of college! The institute program here is really great. They hunt you down to get you into classes and basically force you into involvement. They have free food at the institute building almost everyday (I shouldn't be talking about food on fast Sunday... I'm STARVING!!). Also, once a month, they have a dinner/dance for singles and couples (but mostly singles go). It's a great way to get to know other LDS Students who aren't in your ward and get a nice, free meal. Brittany and I went, and we brought Danny, the boy from across the hall, with us. It was great amounts of fun!! It was a luau, complete with plastic leis, sweet and sour chicken bowls, hula hooping, and a 'fire eating' (aka chili peppers) contest. Brittany and Danny left a little early, they aren't much into dancing, but I stayed and found some people from my ward to hang out with. I didn't get a date... but I did have a cute guy ask me to stop by his work and visit him some time.

Hula Hooping

I destroyed a lei!! Great fun!!

The finished lei destruction, there is a lot of plastic in those

The opportunity for service is EVERYWHERE at college, and you really have to learn to take the chance, because if you do the service, you get SO many evident blessings!! IT is so great! Such an example happened last night. Mom came down and took me and my roommates out to dinner. It was great. However, we usually go to dinner with the boys across the hall. At night, Brittany and I often go to the dorm room of the boys across the hall to play video games and just hang out. So last night we went over after dinner, and one of the boys decided to make himself some dinner, because evidently they can't gain the initiative to go up the hill to Turner if we don't knock on their door. He couldn't find a clean bowl in the cabinet, so he decided to pick one off the counter... the dish had been there so long it was stuck to the counter and took significant strength to remove. YUCK! And he was going to use it!! He found another from the sink with some scum in it. Brittany and I ordered him to sit down. We began doing their dishes, despite the protests from Danny and Doug that they could it themselves. We weren't sure how well they would be done. It was DISGUSTING, but SOO much fun.!

Me doing the dishes.. some of them had cheese crusted on!

Brittany cleaning dishes

Cleaning the inside of their microwave, while lecturing them on proper kitchen care!

Hooray for first posts!!

So I was actually quite shocked to see the immense amount of my family that uses Blogger, so I decided to keep you all updated as well. In case you didn't know, college completely rocks! ISU is so much fun, the people are amazingly friendly, and the campus is beautiful! Being a music major is a lot harder than I thought, especially since I'm switching to flute performance, I'm practicing hours each day, and music classes aren't exactly a walk in the park, but I'm tough! I love it, actually, it's surprising how much practicing is growing on me! My roommates and I get along great and I'm also getting along with a lot of other people too. My ward beyond rocks! I'm a primary teacher in the ward, haha, the bishop and his counsellors bring his kids, so we have 1-9 kids depending on the week. I miss you alllll and I'm so happy I can keep in touch! I would love to be able to write the older nieces/nephews, or families as a whole, because I do have some sort of time for that. My address is:

Cassie VanderSloot
921 S 8th Ave
Rendezvous Center A306D
Pocatello ID 83209

I feel super loved to get mail, so I think writing me sounds like a great FHE activity for this Monday! And for those of you who aren't facebookers (why wouldn't you be a facebooker?) I'll add a few photos of my college experience thusfar

Me and Brittany (roommate) eating dinner at Turner. Evidently we're twins..

Members of my ward at FHE

Inside of my Building, the wall you see is housing, but the other side is classrooms

My building from the outside, the Rendezvous Center

The view from my bedroom