Happily Ever After. . .

Cajuns, Christmas, and A Happy New Year!!!

2010-01-08T19:41:00.000-08:00

Alysse and I are not much bloggers, so we do not post often. Well, a lot has happened in the last couple of months. Over the Thanksgiving holidays, we traveled to my home town of New Orleans to visit my family and celebrate our wedding again. It was great seeing everyone and eating all the great food I grew up with.

Amidst all the celebration and fun, I got to surprise Alysse with a trip to the New Orleans Museum of Art where they were holding a special Walt Disney Animation exhibit in honor of the history and imagination of Walt Disney and his legacy of 'movies, magic, and more.' It was cool seeing all the unseen artwork and how the films were drawn and animated. The exhibit showcased Walt's films starting with Snow White and Cinderella to Sleeping Beauty and the Little Mermaid and beyond.

I also took my wife to her first NFL game in the Louisiana Superdome where the Saints slaughtered the New England Patriots. It was beyond amazing. Alysse enjoyed every minute of it and I was excited that she can have a great time watching football with me. ;)

Fast forward to Christmas where Alysse and I enjoyed our first Christmas together and it was awesome! We lit our Christmas Tree, hung our stockings...btw, I am really proud of our Christmas tree. It is still up because I don't want to take it down yet. I worked hard on it and Alysse let me design it the way I wanted. Dat tree was straight trippin'! hahaha The holidays were merry and we got each other some great gifts.

The fun continued with my lovely wifey's 24 birthday!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY WIFE!!! Alysse turned 24 and I took her to go see The Nutcracker at Ballet West. My wife reminisced about how she used to perform in the ballet. I am so proud of her!

We then jump to New Year's Eve where we played games with the family and watch the ball drop and fireworks explode at the Prove Town Centre Mall parking lot. It was nice being with everyone and ringing in a new year. Cheers to 2010! A New Year and New Beginnings!!

New Wedding Pictures

2009-12-08T22:57:00.000-08:00

We've decided to showcase some highlights from our wedding! Enjoy!

WEDDING of the CENTURY

2009-10-21T16:31:00.001-07:00

Guess what, everybody! We FINALLY got our wedding pictures back...two months later, but worth the wait. They're awesome! There are more to come; do not worry!

Ode to Koska, the Best Dog in the World

2009-09-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

Koska was born on July 25, 1995. He fit in to our family immediately. He was the sweetest dog, and got along with everyone. He was born a little white ball of fluff, and grew into a beautiful American Eskimo dog. Ever winter, the day of the first snow, he would pounce around the backyard as if he'd never seen this new white innovation in his entire life. It was so cute! Sometimes I would look out the window and I wouldn't be able to find him because he blended with the snow so well. He loved to play in it, and he was fun to play with in the snow. During the warmer months of the year, our family really enjoyed going outside to play with him.
I taught him every trick he knows. Both of them. :) I taught him, "Up!", which means he would stand up on his hind legs and hop around. Then I would tell him to sit. He did so every time, and every time he got a treat for being such a good doggie.
On Saturday, September 19, 2009, we came home to find him in the backyard, where he died peacefully in his sleep. We know he'd had a rough several months and that his health was failing, but never had I imagined what it would really be like to not have him in my life. I was so emotional, and cried for about 2 hours straight. I've never had anyone really close to me die before, so he was the first and it has been really hard for me to handle. I love him so much! My Dad, Rob, and Rick buried a site for him in our backyard, and I made a little monument for our sweet puppy. After one last look at him, they put him to rest until we meet again.
14 years, he was part of our family. I could not have asked for a better dog. I hope he knows how much we love him, and I know he loved each and every one of us very much. He showed it by how excited he would get by wagging his tail if ever he heard his name even mentioned. I would go around the side of the house to the little white fence, and shout out, "Koska!" Immediately he would come running to see me in the most excited way! I believe that when I get to heaven, he'll already be there, and I will shout out, "Koska!" And he will come running, and I I will be reunited with Koska, the best dog in the world. I love you, boy! I LOVE YOU!!!

31 days of Awesomeness

2009-09-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

One month!!! Yep, my little wifey and I made it to our one month anniversary. Man, did that time fly by, but I have to say, it has been and still is spectacular. (Btw, she got me Wolverine on dvd and I became a really happy boy!) Her gift, well, it is not so much tangible, but she really enjoyed it ;) Tho, I guess you could say she can touch it...umm, I'll just stop there, hehehe. The humble little home we created has become our safe haven where we enjoy the company of one another and can be a family, like when wifey sits with me to watch football highlights. But, ya'll, having that for a month so far made me realize how nice it is to have your own family and what it means to be a husband. I like being the head of da household. It's a job with great responsibility but comes with some very exciting benefits...hehehe...if ya know what I mean. Alysse is everything I had ever asked for and more and she knows it. She is my little wife who massages my feet. Yea, unlike Belle, she fell for the burly Frenchman, oui. Being married is awesome and I recommend it to anyone. Move over milk...Got hitched? They both do the body good. hehehe Alysse and I have a blast together and we are having even more fun building our home together in the first month. One of the biggest obstacles is having a lot of picture frames and nowhere to put them. We really need to get some pictures to fill'em. :) Hopefully, our wedding pictures will be done soon, though that depends on when we will hear from the photographer. Crossing my fingers now! The wedding gifts do create a pile-up, but we do thank all for giving them to us. That is also another reason to get married, ya get free stuff! Life's great and I am only guessing that it will continue to be. One month and counting, never stoppin'!

A Liberating Hike to the Hot Springs

2009-09-16T11:52:00.000-07:00

So Chasten and I hiked up to the hot springs with Ashlyn and Shawn the other night. It was dark, adn quite scary on the way up do to all of the rattling Ash and I heard in the bushes, til later we finally found out that it was Shawn and Chasten throwing rocks into the bushes in front of us. Turns out they just wanted us to run to them for security. :) On our way up, we ran into some hikers on their way back down the mountain. I told one of them that he smelled like sulfer, (because the hot springs are fresh water and hot sulfer, hence their rechid stench.) His reply was this: "Yeah, I smell like alcohol and dirty sex too!" Taken back, we all had to laugh. I'll admit it was pretty hilarious. When we got up to the "hot pots", we had to dim our flash lights as we got into the pools because you never know what you might find up there. It's known to have a lot of nudees. Lucky for us, the hot pots were filled primarily of college students, all of who looked to be pretty decent looking kids. AKA, we were not exposed to any nudees. Thank heaven! After being funny and daring, that's the only detail I can give, for about a half hour, Ashlyn started to get worried about the kids being at their grandparent's house (Shawn's parents), because it was getting late. So we all dried off and got dressed back into regular clothes. The hike down was liberating. Again, that's all I can really put into words about that. Very Liberating. :) All in all, it was a really fun experience, minus the cows in the middle of the dark road that we almost hit. Aisde from that, I had a great night! And it was liberating. Very Liberating.

For Time and All Eternity

2009-09-09T23:02:00.000-07:00

Hello, hi there! Welcome to our blog! So I just wanna add a post because Ashlyn is getting on my back about up-keeping, haha! This is Alysse. Excuse me, it's the NEW Alysse Nicole Smith Crouchet! So after a lot of planning, the wedding was a complete success! The orange calla lilies, Asiatic lilies, and day lilies were amazing! They accented our pool colored turquoise very well. Our wedding cake was a castle with fleur de lis on it, and Chasten had a fleur de lis groom's cake. The music was all instrumental Disney love songs. That was one of my favorite parts; it really brought out the "character" in our reception. It was classy and us at the same time. Not that we're not classy. We are. But we're goofy too. We're both. Equally. Anyway, after the line died down we got everyone to gather in the gazebo for dancing. The weather was beautiful. Which, let me tell you about that! The morning of our wedding, we drove up to the SLC LDS Temple, it was pouring rain! We all had prayed forever that the weather would be good, being that the wedding was taking place on August 15- a supposedly good weather day, accoring to climatic studies. Just believe me. So we walked into the temple with terrible weather. I was so sad about that, but still really excited about the day. By the time the ceremony was over, we walked out of the temple to gorgeous sunny weather! I was SO happy! The rest of the day was incredible and made the reception look amazing! Back to the reception, my Dad read a poem that he'd written about me and I cried like a little baby, because his baby I'll always be. Then we danced to The Little Mermaid instrumental music because that's very special between us. My Mom had a lot of wonderful things to say as well. I love them! After that, we had a rockin' good time dancing with everyone! When we were getting ready to leave, we got out to the truck that Ashlyn and Shawn had decorated. As we drove away, all the guys, family and dance friends, lined up in front of the truck so that we couldn't go, and they came snapping toward us. It was histerical. I loved my mermaid/"Meg" styled dress and Chasten looked stunning in his tux! Well, I loved it, and it was my dream wedding! The best part is I got to marry Chasten, my Prince Charming!!!

To the Honeymoon and BEYOND!

2009-09-08T22:14:00.000-07:00

Chasten here! Ok, so the wedding was awesome. My beautiful bride and I had an amazing day; everything from the Temple to the night time fireworks extravaganza...well not so much actual fireworks, but i think you get my drift... Anyway, our reception was filled with delicious jambalaya ( a taste from home), jazzy music, and the love of our family members who not only made our night great, but seemed to enjoy themselves really well. It was a night to remember, but I'll let Alysse elaborate on all the mushy wedding stuff. So, we spent a hoppin' weekend at the Marriott in downtown Provo ( an awesomely soft bed and delicious room service). Then, Her Majesty and her Prince Charming flew out to their second home, Walt Disney World! It really was a magical experience. We had an amazing view from out hotel room, which was right on Disney grounds, and like always, we had a blast in the parks. Many "congrats" flew our way, as we sported our "happily ever after" and "just married" pins, which scored us some free food and desserts. Bon Appetite, haw haw haw! One of our favorite places to eat is Le Chefs de France and let me tell ya, c'est magnifique! My baby, loves her creme brulee and their crepe dish is so flavorful. We always have fun tasting the many foods Epcot has to offer ( really just all the food Disney has to offer, like cream cheese pretzels and blue slushies). Now, I know you can get some of these foods anywhere, but there is something about the way Disney makes things...like how they used to make McD's fries, yeah way better than McD's themselves. One food I always have to get is my double scoop Edy's ice cream cone on Main Street. The smell of the waffle cones and the butter pecan ice cream IS Main Street to me, no doubt about it. Even better though, is when my wife and I enjoy a stroll down Main Street looking at the castle illuminating through the darkness changing various colors. Ballin' it is, I tell ya. hahah So, it was awesome! Being married in Disney. Being with ya lady in wonderland! So continues the fairy tale...they lived happily ever after...and so it does continue. Married life is great. I highly recommend it to anyone. Always having the love of your life by your side, yeah, sweeet!

All About Us and Our Fairytale Begining!

2009-08-25T12:44:00.000-07:00

Chasten was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, in Saint Bernard Parish. He speaks French, and loves his culture and background. He's passionate about family and friends, and New Orleans style food- sea food, Cajun, Creole, etc. etc. etc. Chasten loves the outdoors and also loves to be around people. In turn, they love to be around him. He makes friends easier than anyone I've ever known! He is the most genuinly nice guy, loves to laugh, and is super goofy. Any of you that know him know that that's the truth. He loves Disney just as much as me; I've found my equal there, thank goodness! Haha! I love my husband!!!