Farewells, Birthdays, and Other Goings On!

Click here for the grand tour of my apartment and here to read about some major future plans..

I was SO grateful to be able to visit home after only two weeks of being away.  My best friend from the womb, Leslie Dixon, is serving the Lord in Finland and had her farewell.  She did SUCH a great job and will be a fabulous missionary.  Our other friend, Baylie Benson, is leaving soon to serve in Ukraine!  It was our last time to have the three of us together.. and we only JUST realized we make a great blonde joke... Check out these tender pictures of our goodbye

I also got to be home for Daddy's birthday!!! It was sooo fun to be with the family and celebrate the best dad in the world!

It was also nice to be home and spend time with my little sissies again.  I was actually grateful to see that they had stolen my phone and had taken about 45 pictures of themselves AND my nephews.. Thanks girlies! You are so pretty and I miss you like crazy!

Man, they are cute.  PS... Courtney, I am coming home on Sunday November 24 for Baylie's farewell... please have your baby this night.  I will be home for the entirety of the week and returning to the Burg the following Sunday.. this gives me sufficient time to hold my new nephew.  Thank you.  :) 

Then I went home and had a birthday!!  My first birthday away from home... tragic.  But my roommates (and our friends across the hall that we call "The Bigs") were the sweetest sweethearts ever and made me feel extra special!!!  They decorated, surprised me, gave me way too many presents, and took me to Applebees!! Seriously.  It was the bomb.  

My mommy also spoiled me!  She sent me home from my Utah trip with a cooler full of crock pot freezer meals!  WHAT A BLESSING!  I have been living off peanut butter and chocolate chips so let's just say I'm preeeetty darn grateful.  She even sent me a gluten free cake mix, frosting, AND candles and sprinkles so I could have a real birthday.  I've got the best mama xoxo

I also received maaaany many letters and cards and gifts via mail!  Thank you to everyone who gave me gas money and food gift cards and fun money and more.  Your love meant the world to me!  I shan't go hungry again!  At least for a while.. ;)  I love my family and friends!  I'm a blessed little girl.

Don't I just look so much older and wiser? 

THEN I was blessed to have sweet Baylie come visit me!!! How nice of her?!?  Unfortunately, I'm not much of a party person... or a social gatherings person.. or a "know everything to do around town" person so I hope the Burg didn't bore her too much... But I was sure grateful to have her here :)

We went together to watch Clair's swim meet.  She was made Assistant Coach and did an amazing job!!

We also met up with our sweet friend Melinda.  We went to high school together and were all in Madrigals.  She goes to BYU-I too and I haven't even seen her yet so it was fun to catch up!

We went to a delicious Thai place on Main Street that my brother-in-law JD recommended.   It's nice to have a Rexburg Vet in the family!

Other random updates...

I burned my hair off one day and set off the fire alarm twice... my blowdryer seems to be a different temperature in Rexburg...

This is what I eat.  It is delicious.

It snowed one day!!! I lassoed my roommate into wearing my Christmas sweater and celebrating briefly with me.  It was so jolly.






I was so grateful to get Katelin's old iPhone last year.  She already had a crack in it, but of course that didn't bother me. It just made me feel better about dropping it... again.. and again... aaaand again.  It got pretty bad and luckily I had an upgrade when the new iPhone 5c came out!  Plastic sounds good for my habits.. 

Ordered these beauties on eBay.. they are phone case wallets because I NEVER know where any of my important cards are.. these solve the problem!  And just look at how pretty they are!!

Special shout out to Sister Lym for sending me my first package!!!  How nice is that?!?  The scarf is lovely and will keep me so warm!  PLUS there's no way I could ever look at that and not think of Diane.  I love it.  

I especially love that she addressed my package to "The Sensational Cassidy Cook".  That's the bomb.  

Sending my love from the Burg.
xoxo

Home Sweet Home

Click here for more updates of my collegiate activities and here for an announcement of my future plans!

    Well hello, family!  I hope you haven't forgotten about me quite yet.  Rather than posting one ginormous post, I split them up into several.  So read them all.  :)

  I am absolutely LOVING it up here.  You know how they call this place BYU-I Do? Well it is for a good reason....

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I'm Engaged!!!!!!! 

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Just kidding :)  But they aren't- seriously, love is in the air at BYU-Bride-aho.  Not for me though.  I HAVE been on a date and I DO speak to the occasional male, but don't worry.... no wedding bells..yet ;)

I think y'all deserve a tour of my lovely home.

That's Chief Washakie.  He lives outside our door and protects us in our sleep.

These are my beautiful Roomies!!  From Left to right... Mataya and Kari (from St. Anthony Idaho), Clair (friend from Utah that "moved" to Calgary, Canada), Kailey (also from Calgary- didn't know Clair though), and Samantha (from Vacaville, CA)  They are the cutest girls- I got so lucky!

sometimes we ACTUALLY eat real food!

                       

Halloween Decor!  Mama- you'll notice our lovely little Pet Ghost you got us sitting on there- we love her.  Those streamers are going to be used on our door eventually.  Our complex has a door decorating context and the winner wins like $100 or something.  It's a big deal.  

                                               

  I made those vacuum lines.. I'm pretty proud..

I live in such a pretty place!  And our view is great!  We have the prettiest sunsets EVERY night!

 

Hanging pictures on the wall and adding... this branch.. makes our home feel so homey!

These are all the numbers people have left us...

And I made this lovely number frame to hold them all!  Much nicer than sticky notes.

Magnets (from Baylie!!!xoxo) and our roommate calendar

This is the Chastity Line.  It's a real thing and I am VERY strict about it, Daddy.  Boys don't even use our bathroom.

Clair and her side of the room

Our babies!  They died a week later...

                                                

Every room has a special picture of the temple in it. At first we were quite bothered that the wheat (actually, we were informed by an Idaho native that it is barley..) is the center of the picture rather than the temple, but we have since become quite attached!  PLUS we got the Rexburg temple while several other rooms got Salt Lake etc. so anyways.  We love our temple.

 

We leave a sticky note with all of our names, numbers, Instagrams, and Snapchat names on it.... many a handsome young lad has taken it on their way out... :)

Lobby by the elevator... that large canvas on the wall is a copy of "The Family: A Proclamation to the World".  Every floor has something different like "The Living Christ" and "The Relief Society".. how cool is it to live in an apartment where I am reminded of the importance of family and the divine roles of women wherever I look?  The wall decor is revelation from prophets!! How cool is that?  Every lounge has quotes from General Authorities on every wall.  I am so grateful to live here.

       This is the 4th floor lounge.  Complete with a mini kitchenette, pool, ping pong, and foosball tables, a vending machine, a laundry room, couches, tv, and... practice rooms!!!!!!  I spend much time there.

Hemming Village right by our apartment.. Deseret Book and Kiwi Loco (frozen yogurt) are the main attractions.



I know, I am SPOILED to live where I do!!  But I am SO incredibly grateful!! It is a beautiful apartment and it makes living four hours from home muuuuuuch easier on a home-sick prone gal.  I love it!

I love the temple.  And ours is especially pretty!  That is a no-filter picture, folks.  My roommate, Clair, and I have gone to the temple every Thursday since we got here.  It has been SUCH a blessing in my life!  

My heavens, this is a cool school.  Coming from Utah, you'd think I'd be used to hearing about the gospel every second of my life.  But man, it is incredible to be able to pair your college studies with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Everything becomes clear.  It is easier to understand the secular things you are being taught.  Take science for example... In my Foundations Science class we spent the first few lessons studying talks from general authorities and discussing how we can find absolute truth through combining science and personal revelation.  This week, we have been discussing The Big Bang Theory.  Such topics become so simple to comprehend when you rely on the spirit to teach you.

       BYU-Idaho has a learning model that is evident in every class you attend.  It includes three steps:  Prepare, Teach one Another, and Ponder and Serve; and focuses on five principles:  Exercise faith, Learn by the Holy Ghost, Lay hold on the Word of God, Act for yourselves, and Love, serve, and teach one another.  What better way could you learn?  Goodness gracious, it is just so cool. 

Also, every Tuesday we have a giant Devotional (the cool kids call it "Devo") where the whole school gathers in the "I-center" (which is a mini Conference Center) to listen to general authorities and other speakers address us.  It is so cool to be with the entire school and receive such instruction!  I got to sing at one with the Women's Choir... music is the bomb.

  I am mostly in music classes (my major is Music Education Composite with a Choral Emphasis) this semester since I finished most of my Foundations through AP courses in High School.  In every music class we talk about how this talent we have is a gift from God and how we can learn to use that gift to further His work.  IT IS SO COOL!  

It is so cool to go take a test and have your professor pray for you to do your very best.  It is so cool to feel the spirit literally everywhere you go.  It is so cool to be able to come home from class and spend hours discussing the gospel with your roommates. 

I am so grateful I attend this University.  It is right where I need to be and I have been SO blessed every day- I can't even begin to explain!!! I know Heavenly Father is sooooo aware of me.  Even the silly little things- He is in it all.  Being here helps you notice that more than ever- the gospel is LITERALLY in every detail of your life.

I love my roommates- they have become my best friends.  I love my classes.  I love the town.  I love my apartment.  I just love it all.  And though I miss my Utah Home like crazy and everyone that lives there (especially my family!! Heavens to Betsy, I miss you guys..).. The Burg is becoming my home and I am so grateful to be here!!

Sending my love from the Burg.

xoxo