Nease Family Vacation

My parents threw out the idea of a family vacation earlier this year and we were all over it! We decided to stay somewhere in driving distance from Corsicana so we wouldn't all have to fly. We all loaded up in the Sequoia and headed to the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa outside of Austin. We convinced my parents to make a pit stop in College Station for a couple hours so we could walk around campus and see the updated stadium. There were new statues, new escalators and a brand new updated look of the football stadium. We had fun walking around and reminiscing. Crazy how all of us are Aggies! Gig em!

We got to the resort and it was so nice! We were all so excited! We dropped our stuff off in our rooms and put our swimsuits on and went to one of the pools. They had a big lazy river around the pools where you could float in your inter-tube while drinking your margarita (in Kelley's case the virgin margarita since she was 4 months along with baby girl). We went to the resort during the perfect time of the year since school had just started back. We basically had the resort to ourselves (no annoying little kids doing cannonballs while you are trying to read in peace next to the pool). 

There was also a cool walking trail close to the resort that mom and dad went on. We were taking naps or laying out by the pool while they hiked. 

There was a beautiful golf course on the resort property and at sunset we asked one of the workers to drive us around on the golf cart so we could see more of the property. 

The guys decided to play a round of golf so us girls took some of the resort's bikes out. They weren't in the best shape and one of the chains came off, but not to worry, Kathleen was there to help! Kate and I hit around on the tennis court too. I won't tell you who won, but let's just say I always beat her in high school... Ok, I was 3 years older, but still.

Kate and I went on a couple mile run one evening before dinner. We are super slow when we run, but we still got it done. It felt good to get some exercise in after all the food we had been eating the past couple of days. 

After a few days of relaxing we headed to the Bastrop River Company to rent some kayaks and kayak down the Colorado River. It was perfect weather for it - a little cloudy so we didn't get sunburned, but still warm so the water felt great. Everyone coupled off except Kate... poor Kate had to kayak by herself. Hopefully she will have a kayak partner on the next family vacation. :) 

We ate at a cute little Mexican restaurant called Viejo's Tacos and Tequila in Bastrop one night. It was perfect weather to sit out on the patio and the food was good (if you are into Mexican food...). 

The trip was perfect. A wonderful getaway with the best people I know. I wish it could have been longer, but we had a great time enjoying each other. Last family vacation before there is a little one running around. 

Goodwill bookshelves

We moved to Lenexa, KS on May 17, 2015. 

Mike got to drive the U-Haul while I drove behind him in my Camry. It was a pretty boring 7 hour trip, but to break up the monotony we stopped in Hannibal, MO. It is the boyhood home of Mark Twain where many of his books were based on. They had a museum and the famous Tom Sawyer's Fence. Of course I had to get a picture of Mike painting the fence. While texting back and forth with my mom she told me that her, Uncle Jimmy and Papa K (their dad) stopped there once before. She found the exact picture that we took while there. So cool!! It was a cute little town to explore. 

We got all moved into our very small, smelly, dingy apartment the next day with help from Mike's family. This is the apartment we (mainly Kathleen) agreed to stay in for the time being while we looked for houses. It was one of the cheapest ones we found. Now if you don't know this about me, I am a big time saver. I can't see spending above $700 on rent of an apartment that we will only be staying in for about a year. I didn't want the absolute cheapest apartment of course, but I wanted the next step up from that... We had money to afford a better apartment, but why spend more money if we didn't have to? Mike was at that point still in his "first year of marriage Mike" stage. "First year of marriage Mike" agreed to basically anything I said. He had opinions, but didn't voice them as strongly as he should have. If he didn't really want to do something he wouldn't really speak up. It was great for me, but everything he wasn't saying was starting to boil up inside him. For example, when we found the apartment in Lenexa, he wanted to live a a slightly better apartment, but it was more expensive so I put my foot down and explained how living in a worse, cheaper apartment would be so much smarter. (Looking back I was SO wrong). Anyways, we got the apartment I wanted, and he agreed to, and while moving in I started tearing up because it was so bad. It smelled like smoke, there were stains on the carpet, there were insects in almost every corner and it was just gross. BUT it was cheap! Let's just say we started looking for houses sooner rather than later. After the first couple of weeks we were still unpacking things and we had quite a few books so we decided we needed a bookshelf. Mike suggested going to Ikea because they were on the cheaper side but still sold semi-quality products. That was not even an option for me because Goodwill had bookshelves for like $10!!! Why would you buy a brand new $70 bookshelf when you can get a slightly used one for $10?!?! Of course we had money to spend on a new one, but why would you if you can get it for cheap? Also have you seen the apartment we live in? Why would we need a nice bookshelf in that sh*t hole?! (That is the name we gave the apartment) Well "First year of marriage Mike" agreed to go look at Goodwill. We got there and found a decent looking 5 shelf bookshelf and I was excited! Mike kept saying the boards were warped and we could afford a new one and this and that, but I just ignored him (man, am I a good wife or what?). He was still mumbling Ikea under his breath, but got one of the workers to load it up on a dolly and roll it to the front of the store. We checked out and Mike brought the Camry around. I told him we should probably go back the the apartment to get the truck since it's definitely not fitting in the back of my Camry, but he said he could make it work. There was another car behind us trying to unload something and Mike hates to be in people's way so I knew he was rushing to try and fit the huge bookshelf in the trunk. I kept suggesting to go get the truck, but he wasn't having it. He took all the removable shelves out of it and just folded the sides and the top and bottom down so it would fit. Well this made the backing of the shelf rip. Then Mike basically folded the entire thing in half which definitely ruined it. I kept telling him not to rip it and be careful, but that just made him more mad. Then I got really mad because we had just bought the $10 shelf that was in 11 different destroyed pieces in my trunk... That car ride home was the quietest car ride I have had. I'm pretty sure steam was coming off both of us because of how mad we were at each other. This was the point where everything exploded that Mike had kept bottled inside. When we got close to the apartment he kept saying "We can afford a new bookshelf, we have the money for it. Why do we have to buy crap when we can afford new things?!" So in my mind I'm thinking, "Well okay then, if we can afford new things I will just go to the mall as soon as we get home and buy 20 Michael Kors purses. We can afford them so why not?!" Man, I had it all planned out. It was going to be good. We get home and I storm in the apartment and Mike comes in a little behind me. I ask if he wants to talk and I told myself that if he didn't I was getting my purse and heading to the mall. Sad to say he told me he would like to talk. No purses or sweet revenge for me. We talked it out (tears were involved) and made up then walked straight outside and threw the bookshelf in the dumpster and headed to Ikea. That was our first real fight. I will never forget it either. We look back now and laugh and share the story whenever we can. I am so glad we can talk things out and let each other know how we really feel now (even if it means I don't get my way 100% of the time anymore). 

Indianapolis

After we got back from the lovely Alaskan honeymoon we moved to Indianapolis (technically Carmel). We were so excited to start our life together. Mike accepted a job as a mechanical engineer at Rolls Royce and started a week after we moved.

First meal in the apartment

That first week we were there was so fun. We unpacked and decorated the apartment together. We were in the newlywed blissful state - we loved just being together and enjoying each day together.

Staining the wood for the headboard

Installing the headboard

A month after we moved I got an e-mail from TDI-Brooks, where I worked at in College Station. One of the women there was going on maternity leave and they wanted to know if I wanted to work remotely. I told them I hadn't found a job yet so I would love to work for them.
Mike and I had a great routine those first 3 or 4 months of living in Indianapolis - I would wake up with him around 6:30 am and make breakfast (usually eggs and bacon) while he was showering and getting ready for work then after he left I would go back to sleep for 1-2 hours. I would wake up and go to a boot camp I joined and after that I would head to the public library to start working. I would stay until about 4 pm and then head home. We would eat dinner together and watch some TV or go on a walk around the big pond at our apartment complex. On the weekends we would explore the city whether it was going for a bike ride to get ice cream at Handel's in Fishers or walking around and eating in Broad Ripple (Monon Food Co. was our favorite place there).

Handel's ice cream

At the War Memorial in downtown Indy

Fondue night!

Funny story about Broad Ripple: It was Christmas time and I wanted to start a tradition to get a tree ornament together each year we are married so we stopped at a store in Broad Ripple. The only parking spots that were open all had meters so I told Mike we would just run in really fast and get an ornament so we didn't need to put money in the meter. Mike was hesitant, but went with it. We were in the store for about 10 minutes and found a really cute metal bronze heart ornament. We walked out to the car and there was a bright yellow ticket on the windshield! Ugh! So dumb. Mike usually knows best. We loved to bike or walk the Monon Trail too. It was an old train track that they turned into a paved 18 mile walking trail. We would go on a walk and stop at the snow cone place or the ice cream place. We also found a church nearby called Common Ground that we went to regularly. We didn't know anyone before we moved to Indy so we joined a small group and got to know some really cool people. We would hang out with some people Mike met at Rolls Royce too. They were our age and were fun to hang out with. We got to do the Handlebar Indy Pedal Bar with them. It was a huge bicycle that had 14 seats. Everyone got to pedal and drink at the same time. It was pretty fun! We mostly hung out at Max and Patrick's apartment. It was an old baseball field that they made into apartments. They had lawn games and a sand volleyball court.

Hadlebar Indy

Goofing off with friends 

Stadium Lofts (Max and Patrick's apartment)

Mom and dad got to come for a visit too! We showed them around downtown, our neighborhood and where we worked. We also took a short trip to Louisville, KY and French Lick, IN. We stopped buy the Louisville Slugger museum, but it was closed! There was a huge bat (I think tallest bat in the world) outside the museum that we got a picture with though.

While in French Lick we stayed at the French Lick Springs Hotel. They have a casino there and lots of other things to do. We also rode the French Lick Scenic Railway through the Hoosier National Forrest and rode by Larry Bird's childhood home. The ride was short, but really pretty and relaxing. It was a great weekend to spend with them.
After the lady at TDI came back they didn't need me anymore so I started looking for jobs in Indianapolis. I wanted to do a fun job so I started to look around town. It was September so I thought about looking at Halloween stores. I LOVE Halloween so of course it would be a blast working at a Halloween store! Wrong. It was minimum wage, you had to be on your feet all day and the coworkers were less than stellar. The worse part was the coworkers. Minimum wage seasonal work usually doesn't bring about the best kind of people. Oh, and we only got 20% off Halloween decorations! Lame! I lasted about 2 1/2 weeks. Right after I quit I found a job in downtown Indy (a couple of blocks from Rolls Royce). It was at a foreign trade zone company called Zone Solutions. I got to carpool with Mike everyday. I loved that. It made the 30-45 minute drive not so bad (mainly because he was driving).The people at work were nice. The boss lady, not so much. A couple of months after I got the job Kelley came to visit. It was February and it had snowed a couple of days before she got there so it was a bit cold, but that didn't stop us from having fun. We walked around the Indianapolis Museum of Art, went to the Monon Food Company and drove around downtown (thanks to our chauffeur, Mike, for being a wonderful driver especially in the snow).

Snow!!!

One of our favorite restaurants

Lily House at the Indianapolis Museum of Art

It was too short of a visit, but it was so nice to have family in town. Kenny and Michaela got married in March and Mike was Kenny's best man. We flew to Austin, Texas to go to the wedding and mom and dad drove to Austin to hang out with us for a little bit after the wedding. We went to the Capital and a park nearby. It was a quick trip to Texas, but great to be back in the Motherland.

I enjoyed working at Zone Solutions for the most part. One weekend most of us did a Color Run 5k together. Kate was actually visiting that weekend so she ran with me.

Zone Solutions Team

Color Run!

We climbed 331 steps to get to the top!

Great view up here

We also visited the Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Monument at the center of the city. There was an elevator to the top of the 275 foot monument to the look out tower, but it cost like $2 a person so we decided to take the 331 stairs to the top. We regretted it about 1/4 of the way up. After that we went to the Indianapolis Zoo. They had a really cool butterfly exhibit that we walked through too.  

Is it real or not....?

Friends from Zone Solutions

I told my coworkers my love for April Fools Day so of course I had to pull some pranks on them. See below for my tricks. :)

There was always work to do so the day flew by. The office was located in the 2nd tallest building in Indy and we were on the 13th floor so the view was amazing!

Funny story about working there: The boss wasn't the nicest person I've ever met. She would look at people like they were dumb and tell them what they did wrong in front of everyone in the office. It was a small office, only about 12 people. Every time she would walk out of her office people would look away and hope that she wasn't walking over to them. It seemed liked she only wanted to talk to you if you did something wrong. If you did, God forbid, do something wrong she would treat you like a 4 year old and make you feel so small. Anyways after working there for about 6-7 months I wasn't having the best day and she had just come out of her office to "talk" to me. I was so upset that I wrote an e-mail to Mike saying things I wanted to say to her. There were allegedly some curse words and mean things said. I sent it ONLY to Mike. I tripled checked. Except it was sent on my work e-mail and work computer. Well apparently they have these programs that can go in and look at e-mails that were sent from work e-mail accounts. Right after I sent the e-mail I get a Skype message from her saying, "I'm so glad you are working here. You are such a hard worker." I KNEW she had seen the e-mail. I left the room immediately and called Mike and told him to come pick me up. I told everyone I felt sick and had to leave. After thinking about it and talking to Mike about it I called her and explained that I had sent an e-mail to my husband that had said some things that I didn't mean and I wanted to give my 2 weeks notice. We had a meeting the next day and talked it out and she actually took it pretty well. The only thing she was upset about was that I had said the benefits at the company weren't very good and that she had bragged about them being awesome. So I stayed working there for a bit, but it ended up Mike didn't like his job and he was thinking about quitting. We both put in our notices and quit a couple months later. When I think about living there it makes me remember the sunny, breezy, beautiful days there. The majority of the days were good there, but it was tough on me sometimes since I haven't ever lived anywhere without at least one of my family members in the same town. I also I have always lived 2 hours from my hometown. I think it was good that we moved away from both of our families though so we could lean on each other when things got hard. Indianapolis was so fun! We loved our apartment, enjoyed exploring different parts of town, found a great small group at church and made some fun friends at Rolls Royce and Zone Solutions. I'm so glad we lived there for 11 months.