Just another friendly reminder to check out our new blog at:

http://www.crosbyville.blogspot.com/

Thanks!

Allye & Andrew

A New Place

I'm happy to say that we have a new little patch of the interweb to call home. I will no longer be blogging here, but you can follow us at:

http://www.crosbyville.blogspot.com/

Let me know what you think about it!

We're MARRIED

(photo credit: Monica Burkett Photography)

Sorry I've been MIA from the blog

Life has been crazy.

busy.

exciting.

different.

and oh so fun.

Stay tuned because I'll be back with exciting things.

Like a tour of our New Orleans abode, and maybe even tell you about the happiest day of my life (pictured above).

Until then, you survived without me for this long, just hang on a little longer.

Love,

Mrs. Crosby

5 days

Andrew,

By this time next week we will be married and exploring Hawaii together. My intentions of telling you 20 something reasons why I love you failed. Not because I couldn't find 20 something reasons, but because I was busy enjoying all the reasons while we were together the past week and a half in our new little house without internet.

Here I am though, 5 days away from becoming yours forever, trying to find the words to articulate all of the feelings I am having right now. To tell you the truth, it is just not possible. That could be because I just spent 8 solid hours studying for the biggest test of my life, or more likely because I am deeply in love with you and my brain cannot do what my heart feels justice.

The searching part of my life is over. I have found everything that I want in a companion in you. There are no other guys I need to meet because I have found the only one I will ever need. I have everything that I could ever want in a husband, partner for life, father to my babies, grandfather to my grandbabies, and most of all best friend. We will be with each other through everything and anything life can throw at us, and be together even at the end of life.

This is why I am marrying you in 5 days.

I will spend the rest of my life trying to fill all of the roles and supply all of the needs that you have for a wife, and I pray that I will do it with the grace, beauty, and love that you have shown me.

I love you. To the moon and stars and galaxies and back a trillion times.

Allye

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come:

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it our even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Shakespeare, Sonnet 116

Long picture post

Hi!

I'm alive.

But have failed my blogging commitment exceedingly.

Since I have last written lots has happened.

Monica and I went to canton where we nearly sweated to death and met this little lump of love.

He was seriously one of the most heart melting creatures I have ever set eyes upon. He tripped over his own ears and when he drank water out of a bowl his ears just bobbed along side in the water. It took some serious strength to not bring him home with us.

I haven't stopped begging Andrew since. He's growing a great distain for all things puppy.

I don't blame him.

On every grocery list and to-do list we would make I would write:

-Get puppy.

Even though we didn't come home with a new puppy, Monica and I happily obliged to love on these two. Monica and Bret's furbabies (my nephpups) (riduculous, i know), are the sweetest.

After spending some time with the Burketts, I got to hang out with my pal Allie for a day. She took me to the airport and I was off for a 10 day visit with my honey.

We began the unpacking journey in our amazing little house.

It's such a great little place. We already love it.

I spent a great deal of my time in New Orleans cleaning feverishly. Anytime I got tired of cleaning I just thought about how much less I'm going to feel like cleaning after spending 10 days in Hawaii.

Here's a glimpse of our little neighborhood:

And our amazing (work in progress) backyard.

Being there setting up our house made me so much more excited about moving. Not that I wasn't excited before, there was just a good deal of apprehension, which is partially still there, but not nearly as much.

I'm so excited to start our new life together.

It was great for me to get plugged into some of the ministry Andrew does in NOLA while I was there too. I helped our with the baseball team Andrew coaches.

They are a rowdy, crazy, untrained group of little boys that can make any calm and rational person decide to pull their hair out and jump in front of a moving vehicle, but I already love them.

I already want to adopt 4 of them.

These always help ease apprehensions, too:

Just one week until we get married.

Garsh, I cannot wait.

Side note: I take my NCLEX (nursing licensing exam) on Friday at 8am. I am slightly overwhelmed/stressed/worried about it, which I believe are normal feelings. However, I could definitely use your thoughts and prayers! Also, my car kicked the bucket today. Thankfully, due to generous friends (allie and family), I am borrowing a car to get around until we figure out what to do.

Awesome times ahead, for shizzle.

I'm a bit sleep deprived (hence the for shizzle), sore from moving, and extremely ready to be in Hawaii.

I've been staying at my friend Amy's house for a short stint since Julie and I moved out of our apartment. I have been spending time chatting with her about marriage, life, babies, anything/everything in between, and playing with her sweet kiddos. I haven't touched my computer in a couple of days due to that and the madness of moving.

Tomorrow I'm going to get to see one of my longest bffs Monica and her hubby, and on Friday Monica and I are going to Canton (which I could not be more excited about). I'm not so excited about having to suppress my puppy fever in dog town though.

After hanging with Monica I get to see Allie and hopefully Robyn.

And on Saturday I'm going to NOLA to see my man!

It really couldn't get any better.

Well, it could if I DIDN'T suppress my puppy fever...but Andrew might die/not talk to me for the rest of our lives.

I choose happy husband over puppy.

I'll continue saying that for as long as we shall live.

I do.

Speaking of I do's, we will be I do-ing in approximately 20 days.

DANG GOOD news, because I am READY.

Here's me playing catch up on my way too lofty goal of blogging every day. Shoulda known bettah.

22. Andrew, you are so smart. This kind of relates to your creativity, but I really do love how smart you are. I may be just slightly dumb, so keeping me around is definitely going to make you look REALLY good. I am constantly asking you "what does that mean?" when you say a big word or are telling me about something you learned in seminary or "who is that?" when you're talking about history, musical legends, or famous artists. I love how you think, and ponder. I will always learn something new being your wife, and I love that.

21. I love how much you love music. Even though I sometimes give you a hard time about your massive record collection, deep down I like it a lot. It's such a neat hobby, even if it means I have to endure countless pawn shop trips and digging through bins at thrift stores and garage sales...it's actually kind of growing on me. I love dancing with you to the crackly sound of a record and I love dreaming of us teaching our babies how to dance to that same sound. Your mixed CDs are my comfort when I'm missing you and needing to feel some extra love, you put together the best mixes. Seriously, quit your day job and make mixes for a living. Actually, maybe wait until I find a job to do that.

20. I love how much you love your family. It's a natural, simple love that is inspiring to me and makes me excited for us to start a family together, even if it is just the two of us for a (long) while. Your love for them is evident in the way you tell stories, talk on the phone with them, and light up when we're all together. I feel such thankfulness to be joining a family that is filled with so much love.

Who let the dogs out

18. A photo of your pets

Technically (sadly, and unfortunately) I do not have any pets at the moment. I never did tell the blogging world that Annie died (again). The poor lil pup just couldn't beat the sickness. She was adorable though and I couldn't help posting a picture of her because I loved her so much.

Kensey is my roommate Julie's dog, but I love her like my own.

Nacho is Andrew's dog, and even though he has a brain the size of a pea I love him too. We're not going to be able to keep him because of his inability to learn to pee outside and the fact we are moving into a nice house. We also wont have a big back yard for him to get his energy out. We'll miss him, but it's for the best.

24 & 23

Yesterday was a hectic day of packing, moving, hanging out with Crosbys, more moving, and going to visit Allie at her sweet breast friends cookout to help her walk the Susan G. Koman Walk for the Cure. Hence, I didn't even touch my computer.

23 days! I'm usually a countdown person, I love thinking that 23 days seems so long and then experiencing how quickly it goes by. Usually I make time much shorter than it is. I'll say to Andrew "only a week until I get to see you" when in actuality it's 10 days. I'm not doing that with the wedding though, it would be to cruel to my excited self.

I am going to New Orleans in 5 days to spend time with the boy and help him set up OUR HOUSE! Crazy. And fun. I am so excited.

24th reason why I love you, Andrew:

I love your laugh. It makes me laugh to hear you laugh and that will never get old. I love that it's something that people notice about you because it really does bring joy to other people. It's also pretty nice of you to laugh at (most of ) my jokes. Thanks for amusing me. I'm grateful I get to hear your laugh for the rest of our lives.

23:

I love your creativity. You have a unique way of viewing the world that I admire. I love that you're creative enough to come up with the strangest, yet most adorable pet names for me. They make me smile, and I'm sure would make others either cringe or tilt their heads in confusion saying "did that guy just call his wife peanut butter puddin' surprise?". I'll always cherish the little creative gems you've given to me throughout our dating years, all of the mixed cds, the hand assembled jewelry, sweet cards, and neat modge podged pictures.

25

25 days until Andrew finally becomes my husband, and I his wife.

Husband and wife.

Those words together have a new meaning to me than they ever have had before.

I have seen marriages.

Beautifully happy ones, as well as violently sad ones.

I have been emerged deep in the loss that divorce causes, and experienced chills and from hearing a old, wise, beautiful woman try to explain to me the depth that the love for her late husband holds.

I remember saying to my friends in high school that I didn't want to ever get married because of the trust it entails, because your heart could be so easily crushed. Loving someone that much didn't make sense to me at that time, all that made sense to me in love was pain. I saw too much pain stem from putting your heart on the line and loving. Why do that to myself?

I've written here before about how my heart as been transformed by love. How it has been a slow, sometimes painful process of realizing that I am not in control. I've talked about how being loved by people throughout this journey of becoming someone who trusts love has brought me to a better, more tangible understanding of God's love.

Trusting love has been a battle for me because love has not always been trustworthy in my eyes.

It's amazing to dwell on that past perception of something that holds such beauty in my eyes now.

Because now, I trust love. I trust that it's beautiful, enriching, fulfilling, and something that we cannot live without.

I also trust that it's painful. It's painful because as humans we have expectations of how we should be loved and those expectations are not always met. It's painful because in life there is loss, heartache, and unexplained hurt. The beauty in the pain though is that it is painful because we trust. When love isn't trusted, there is a numbness to pain because you are expecting for your heart to be crushed. Having been here, as well as there I can say that I would much rather feel pain because of trusting love than be numb because of mistrust and expecting love to fail.

I love (not to wear out that word here) that I feel this way. I believe with all of my heart that God took me through life knowing that I would be laying in the living room of my empty apartment at such a vital transition in my life, dwelling on how I got here, and how everything that has happened in my life has one way or another taught me was true love means (even if it was an experience that taught me what true love isn't).

Trusting love has never come naturally to me, but now it feels as natural as taking my next breath.

In 25 days Andrew and I will dive deep into a life together that I pray is filled with years and years (and years) of the natural love that we already have. I know that our love will grow, but right now as a crazy, head over heels, soon to be bride I don't see how that is possible.

I didn't intend to get carried away with all of that, but I did.

My intention was to tell you that I want to remember this time of feeling so much genuine trust in love, and loving Andrew in a unique way before marriage by telling a reason each day leading up to our marriage of why I love him like I do.

25 days isn't going to be enough to tell all the reasons, but I think this will be a fun way for me to remember (and remind him) each day how truly privileged I feel to get to spend forever with him.

Andrew, 25 days until I'm your wife:

I love you because your kind, gentle, patient love towards me has taught me to trust like never before.

16. A photo of you at the last party you went to.

Hm. I'm not much of a party goer. I think the last party I went to was for my birthday/bachelorette party. It was an amazing weekend full of celebration. So many of my sweet, wonderful friends came into town which is a sure fire way to make it super special.

and cause I love 'em....

Love, sweet love.

15. A photo of you and someone you love.

Well, this one is a given.

27 days until we're together forever.

Cannot wait.

Faaaaamily

14. A photo of your favorite family members

Andrew, being my immediate family and my favorite human in the whole wide world is my "favorite family member". I have to say my cousins too though because they are my blood, and my best friends/worst enemies growing up...that's what family is about.

13. A photo of you and your best friend(s)

12. A photo of you

I don't particularly enjoying posting photos of myself on my blog. Any time this photo challenge calls for such a thing though, I turn to my photo booth where I have been trying to document my hair changes since the big chop last 2 Septembers ago. It's fun to see how your hair changes (for me).

This photo, however, was taken on the happiest day of my life thus far. When I got back to the dorm after Andrew asked me to be his wife, Maddie and Christi came up to my room and talked, giggled, squealed, stared at my ring, tried on my ring, and hugged me a lot. It was a special time. After they left I felt like I should shower because I was still feeling shameful for looking like crapola during one of the most important moments ever. After I got out of the shower I saw my ring laying on the counter and I cried some of the happiest tears I've ever cried and then took this picture.

This is the face of pure joy and excitement (with puffy cry eyes):

11. A photo of your favorite film(s)

I have 4 favorite movies. I could watch any of these movies any day. The first three are my true favorites. The music in them is fantastic which is why I think I love them so much. They are all three quirky, sweet, and about love in some way.

The last one is random, but I will never get tired of this movie. It makes me laugh every single time. I quote this movie in my head at least once a week. When it first came out my brother Austin and I probably watched it a solid 30 times or so...

10. A photo of you as a baby

I had a difficult time choosing between these two because they are both equally funny.

The first one I am such a CHUNK and it's cute. Plus my Aunt Sheila's earrings are rockin'. Double chins and chubby fingers...

And this one because I am in spaghetti induced coma/confused as to why everyone is singing. I love the dish towel that my grandma turned into a bib, and the bright yellow highchair.

9. A photo of your family

A Christmas tradition in the Crosby household is to crowd surf the babies in front of the Christmas tree. I think it's awesome, and Andrew and I have debated how long we're going to surf Simon. I hope until he's at least 13.

This year we'll have 3 babies to surf. Not sure how we're going to manage.

Love them.

8. A photo of your favorite band/musician

My favorite band/musician changes at least once a week, if not daily. However, one that always remains up there on the list is Eisley. I think it helps that I've seen them live a couple of times too and it's always such a fun show.

This picture is from 2008, when my bffs Monica and Danielle bought tickets to celebrate my birthday. It was so much fun.

I do have to admit though that I didn't buy their most recent album because the album preview on itunes left me slightly depressed. It's just SO SAD. I can take sad music, but literally every single song is about lost love and failed relationships.

I just couldn't take it.

So I stick to Trolly Wood, because that song is just so cute.

Big day

I signed up to take the biggest test of my life yesterday.

That might be a dramatic choice of words, but the NCLEX is a very big deal.

You see, if I pass I am an RN (registered nurse).

If I don't pass I'm just BSN (bachelors of science in nursing).

BSN doesn't really have that much significance without the RN.

Sure, I could probably find something to do but I couldn't be a nurse with out those two letters.

So, the NCLEX is a big deal, and I'm taking it June 17th at 8am.

That's one reason why yesterday was memorable. Another is because I booked my final flight to visit the Mr. before I become the Mrs. It was so exciting to think about not having to plan out trips to see each other anymore.

No more distance.

That makes my heart leap just typing it.

Gracious, I can't wait.

It's getting to the point where the time we have left is just becoming frustrating. I miss him. He misses me (I think). We know we're going to be together SO SOON, but dangit, it's not coming soon enough.

I know I will probably write a blog 2 days before I leave to go to Hawaii something that goes a little like this "oh my gosh i cannot believe it's HERE!!"

But for now, it's dragging like a person's leg that has steppage gait because of a CVA. (sorry, too much NCLEX review in one day).

Monday begins my crazy babysitting schedule. I would say that by the end of this month I am going to be so tired of babies, but I really don't think that could ever happen. I'm hoping that once Monday hits this month will start flying by.

Photo Challenge...it's back!

I neglected the photo challenge when things got hectic, but it's back full force! (maybe)

7. A photo of someone you love.

My redneck abraham lincoln memorial:

love him.