Spike's graduation. I love that his tongue is sticking out!

Merry Christmas!
Andy is excited about our super cool hotel room in Minneapolis
During our trip to see Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson in Minneapolis!

Picture updates

Our first snow
Our trip to Michigan
During our trip to Minneapolis/St. Cloud

December 2008

Well I'm not sure where November went. Or really, where the semester has gone, but we are oh so excited to see it ending! We're anxious to see family and friends while we're home during Winter Break and we're MORE than ready to get out of Iowa for a bit! It's going to be so nice to disconnect from work and school.

October eventually ended, thanksfully! Weekend trips, Homecoming, staff retreat, and a regional conference consumed all of my time that month. The weekend trips were great. We got to see family and visit Minneapolis for a concert. Homecoming came and went. The staff retreat was a great opportunity for our student staff to come back together and welcome a new member, and the conference was great. We were in a car accident on the way back from the conference that ended in us totaling the car but thankfully all four women in the car walked away without any injuries. I think that will put a hold on my conference attendance, at least for a bit! 

November went quickly, as well! It felt like we spent the majority of the month celebrating our birthdays but hey, I'm not complaining! It was also great to host another Thanksgiving and it was SO good to have Andy's mom, sister, and stepdad here for a few days. It's always so wonderful to have visitors! It gets a little isolating up here in Iowa!

The first weeks of December have flown by and we are now preparing to come back for the holidays! It will be so nice to be back but we wish we had more time! There are too many people to see in such a short amount of time. 

Despite being a BUSY year, the Lord has blessed us in so many ways! The first six months of marriage have been amazing and we are looking forward to what 2009 brings! We're thankful to have found a wonderful church family and great friends here in Cedar Falls.  Having been blessed with those elements has been our saving grace as we adjust to life so far away from home. 

I'll try to post some pictures of what's been going on. If no more updates are made before 2009, the Crowes wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May the new year bring you many blessings!

Ashleigh and Andy

Wow...

Yipes! I can't believe how fast the year is going! How is it already the middle of October?! Things are great for us but it seems like every week is just flying by! I guess that's great, actually, because we're anxious to see family at Thanksgiving and go home for Christmas, but nonetheless, I feel like life is passing us by!

Andy's doing well in school. He's ready to be out, that's for sure! If all goes well, he'll be out in August. Otherwise, he may have to hang on until December to graduate. We'll wait and see...

Work if fine, although October is proving to be very busy! Lots of activities on the weekends and a conference at the end of the month. Oh...November...please please come!

Spike is in obedience school at PetSmart and we've discovered that he's a quick learner! Teesha, our trainer, says every week that Spike is a smart, sweet dog. We tell her to take him home for a week and she'll learn otherwise. She hasn't taken us up on our offer yet...

Overall, life is good in the Crowe household! We're just holding on, anxiously awaiting November and December! We can't WAIT to see everyone!

Here's to the New Year...

So I can't believe another school year has started! I thought I would miss school and class but I have to tell you, I sure don't yet. I miss challenging my brain, in intellectual, book kind of ways, but I don't miss going to class, doing assignments, blah blah blah. Maybe in a few more years. I figure, get some experience and then peruse Ph.D programs. I'll give myself some time :-).

Andy is (cross your fingers) hopefully in his last year with classes. If all goes well, he'll be done with class work in May and will finish up in August after a summer-long internship. I think he's ready to be out of school for a while...

Things here are going very well. It's a totally different feeling, starting my second year. I spent so much time my first year wanting to a.) crawl under my desk and come back out the following summer or b.) just quick and find a job that was more 8a-5p no weekends. But this year, we have a new staff, loads of new students, and I've got a different/better attitude. Oh, and I've been through the system once, which certainly helps. 

Spike is still a holy terror, so we've decided to put him into obedience classes. Those start next Saturday evening, and I'm anxious for good results. I think the classes are going to help BOTH us and Spike out. 

Dad and Debbie are coming up to visit at the end of September and I'm oh so excited! Dad hasn't seen the apartment since I moved in, so I'm pumped that they'll be up here for a few days. Hopefully we can get Mom and Trent up here in November and maybe a friend or two up in the spring. And if Aubrei and Dan would ever travel up, that would be stellar as well. 

Today I ran my first 5k in about 2 and 1/2 years and it was great! Rough...but great! Actually, the organizers of the race apparently started the race at the wrong place, so instead of doing 3.1 miles, they think we did more like 3.5 or 3.6 miles. Now, to the average reader, that probably doesn't sound like much of a difference, but believe me, I'll soak up every bit of the glory of running farther than expected! haha. I've already told the gals that I ran with this morning that we're running the 1/2 marathon next year, so here's to a year, yes a YEAR of training for that (don't judge!)!

Andy and I are going to enjoy some tailgating this afternoon, so I better end the blog here. 

With love,

Ashleigh

Follow these links to our wedding photos!

You'll have to copy/paste these links into new windows. Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2083426&l=339ea&id=51803609

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2083429&l=501cf&id=51803609

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2083435&l=032ff&id=51803609

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2083436&l=8d7c5&id=51803609

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2083438&l=51757&id=51803609

Spike

So here are some new photos of Spike, because Andy and I are shameless about how much we love this animal. When we went to Disney for our honeymoon, the first souvenir we bought was for Spike. It was a bandana that said "my owners went to Disney and all I got was this stupid bandana" or something like that! haha. 

Decorations

So it took us a year to finally get some stuff up on the walls! The black frames are engagement photos with mattes that people signed at our wedding. The painting is an AMAZING portrait that our friend (and talented artist) Dusty Scott did for us as a wedding gift from Andy to me! 

Andy's bicycle

Here's Andy's new bike! He absolutely loves it!

Bed

Andy calls this his first "grown up bed", I guess because the bedspread and pillows look nice. They were all wedding gifts!

Bicycles, Baptisms, and BBQs

Well it feels like the summer is going very quickly and I must admit, it's bittersweet. On the one hand, I like the slower pace of summer, spending lots of time with Andy, being outside, etc. On the other hand, I'm excited for my second year. I'm anxious to see what life is like as a second year professional. So far, I'm highly optimistic. I think things are really going to be great. I've got a great staff coming in who each have really creative, energetic ideas. I'm more comfortable in my own abilities and definitely more familiar with our operations. Overall, I think life will be great come August!

Andy recently got a bicycle so we've been going on rides in the evenings and we're really enjoying that. We take Spike with us and let him run next to us. We think he really likes the exercise. I'll try to add a picture of Andy's new bike, as well as a new picture of Spike, since we love him so much! haha. 

Two Sundays ago I was rebaptized and Andy and I joined Cedar Heights Baptist Church. It has truly been a blessing to find a wonderful church to call home. The ministers are amazing and the congregation is very welcoming. Saturday we went to a bbq with a bunch of our Sunday school class and it was really great. Andy and I have both been thankful to begin making connections outside of the university (not that we don't like our university folk...it's just that we want to get connected to the community as well, since we're planning on being here a while). 

I've also taken a few pictures of our apartment, with decorations on the walls and some wedding gifts. I'll try to post those as well, although I'm having a hard time figuring out how to post pictures in the format that I want. 

The fourth of July was also fun for us! We had a bbq with some friends and then lit a BUNCH of stuff on fire. We ended the night on the top floor of Bender in one of the student rooms watching the fireworks over the dome. It was definitely a great night. 

Now I'm going to get on with trying to post pictures. Hopefully it works out for our faithful few followers. 

Until next time,

Ashleigh

A preview of our pictures.

Wedding

Well, life has been busy for us! My building is currently being used to house Red Cross volunteers here for the flooding and tornado that happened in May. Andy has been umpiring for two different places, one in Cedar Falls, one in Waterloo, as many as six days a week! While I'm thankful that he's got a job that he really enjoys, I sure miss him in the evenings. Currently, we have completely opposite work schedules, with me getting home either right before or just after he's left for work in the evenings. But...I suppose that's part of life with a partner, right? We've been so lucky to always have such similar work schedules that this is a real change for us. But we'll make it through. Once the semester starts, I have a feeling that our schedules will work out a little better.

It's also an exciting time in our lives (I mean...besides being newlyweds...) because Andy and I have found a church and are in the process of joining. We've been attending Cedar Heights Baptist Church http://www.cedarheightsbaptist.com/ since last November and both REALLY enjoy the experience every time we attend! We're also getting active in the church community by attending Sunday School and even connecting with other couples within the church. We're both very excited to be able to add this experience into our lives at the beginning of our marriage. It's so evident that God has been incredibly good to both of us!

I'm still waiting on wedding pictures from the photographer, so once I have our full set, I'll set up a photo album and be sure to share.

Until next time,
Ashleigh

Follow the link

Okay, in the meantime, follow the link below for a sampling of our wedding photos!

http://picasaweb.google.com/GoodGirlPhotographer/WEDDLECROWE

Enjoy!

Take care,
Ashleigh and Andy

We're married!

Well, we got married! I've been trying to figure out the most effective way to add some wedding photos but I haven't quite got it yet. Stay tuned for pictures, though!

The wedding was beautiful and exactly everything that I wanted it to be. The photos that Tara did are absolutely amazing and really do a great job of capturing our personalities. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.

Our honeymoon started on Sunday, when we flew to Orlando. We stayed in a hotel with a giant pineapple on it (hehe), and were only minutes away from Downtown Disney and a bunch of theme parks. Monday was Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. Tuesday we headed to Universal Studios and then Wednesday we decided to go to a beach. We burnt ourselves and had to miss out on going to our last park on Thursday, but honestly, it was pretty nice to just lay around the hotel all day and take it easy. We left early on Friday morning to return to KY and then made the 14 hour drive back to Iowa. Despite the flooding, things are going well. The community seems to be responding well to everything that is going on and people seem especially supportive. It's been nice to see such a reaction.

Now I'm in the process of getting back into the swing of things with work and also trying to change my name. Who knew that so much work went in to changing a person's name! Hopefully everything goes smoothly.

Okay, I'm going to try to get some pictures up in the next few days. Hang tight, folks!

Ashleigh

New Beginnings

With a wedding on the horizon, I thought it would be fun to create a blog for Andy and me to share our lives with our families, instead of relying on Facebook or MySpace. We'll use this blog to post pictures and keep loved ones informed of our lives as we begin our marriage in Iowa. Stay tuned...