Easter in Oklahoma and the Ahlenius wedding

This year we had Easter in Oklahoma with my grandma. Mike and I drove to Corsicana and we rode to Oklahoma with my parents and Kate. When we got there we ate lunch and walked around the farm. It was great to see and visit with my grandma and aunt and uncle. On Easter we all went to church and then had a big "dinner" (lunch) afterwards. Grandpa has been gone about 5 years now and it still seems like he will just walk around the corner and say he needs to go fix something out in the barn. He was the best grandpa. He made biscuits and gravy like no one else, he could fix anything and he would tell you all the stories you wanted to hear.

A couple of days before Mark's, Mike's roommate, wedding Mike and I headed to Temple to hang out with Mike's other roommate, Kevin, and his girlfriend, Hannah. Hannah's parents live on a ranch in Temple. They have a gorgeous house and a lot of land. It was pretty hot so we decided it would be fun to take the boat out and go to the lake. We loaded the boat up and headed to the lake. We stopped to get gas and some yummy refreshments and then we were on our way. It was a ton of fun on the lake! We got to tube, ski and get a tan! It was a great day. 

Here is a fun slow mo video of Mike and Kevin being slung off the tube. 

The next day we headed to Waxahachie for Mark and Brynn's wedding. It was a cute small backyard wedding. They had the wedding at Brynn's parents house. It was so perfect for them! Mike was a groomsman and I helped get things set up and ready for the wedding. The rain was trying to come through, but it held off just for the wedding and reception. It was a great time!

Fun in February and Merry in March

February and March were full of wedding plans, Valentine's Day, a surprise trip for Mike and a spring break trip to Branson, Missouri. As soon as Mike proposed I started thinking about the wedding and started making wedding plans. Mike accepted a job offer at Rolls Royce in Indiana with a start date in late June so I knew we needed to get things moving for the wedding. The last weekend in January my parents came to town so the entire family could go wedding dress shopping. I had two appointments in Houston to try and find the perfect dress. We went to the first place and it was pretty fancy. They didn't have a ton of dresses, but I did find one I liked. I didn't LOVE it, but it was nice. It was $2,900 though... So we headed to the second store and it had a few more dresses and I found one I liked there too, but I couldn't see myself in it. We left feeling defeated, but planned to go back in a couple of weeks. That next week in College Station I told my sisters that I wanted to stop by David's Bridal just to see if they had anything that would work. I tried on about 10 dresses until I tried on the one that I liked more than any other one. It wasn't that crying, 100% sure type of thing, but I really really liked it. I wanted a sweetheart neckline, and it didn't have it, but I knew I could take it to the seamstress and have it fixed. I wished my mom could have been there, but I was just relieved that I had found and bought the dress.

The next week was Valentine's Day and Mike said he wanted to cook me dinner for it. I went over to his house and we had a nice romantic dinner. I brought a red velvet cake because I knew that was his favorite. I think he was excited. 

Dinner was great and the cake was pretty good too. :) I am SO thankful to have this wonderful man in my life. He is so loving, kind and caring. I can't wait to marry him! 

A couple of weekends after Valentine's Day I surprised Mike with a trip to The Houston Museum of Natural Science and to a Movie Grill to have dinner and watch The Lego Movie. He didn't have a clue of where we were going and he was presently surprised when we got there. We wondered around the museum for a couple of hours, picked up a couple of souvenirs and walked around outside for a little bit. After that we headed to the Movie Grill to eat and watch The Lego Movie. Mike loved it! :) It was a great day. 

A couple weeks later it was Spring Break and Mike's friend, Jeremiah, invited us to spend it with his family in Branson, Missouri. It was such a good time! Jeremiah's family was so kind to us and paid for food and entertainment while we were there. We got to ride go karts, play mini golf, eat great food, play poker and relax. It was such a great break from life! 

The day I got my bling

Saturday, January 11, 2014 started out pretty normal. I slept in a little bit, laid around the house then took a shower. My sister, Kelley, texted me the day before asking if me, Kate and Mike would take some family pictures with her because her friend that was a photographer was in town and Kel thought it would be a good idea to give a photo album to my parents as a present. We all thought that was a good idea so I told Mike about it and he said he was on board. Now I have to admit, I thought something might be coming because over Christmas Mike and I picked out my ring and bought it. I wanted to be the loop about it because I wanted to LOVE it and I wanted something pretty specific. Mike didn't mind because he wanted me to love it too! Anyways, after I showered and got ready Mike came over to pick me up for the pictures. We were supposed to meet at a park nearby and before we went Mike wanted to stop by the grocery store to buy some flowers because he thought they would be great props (in my mind I was like, "Right..."). Mike was being a little weird and I could tell he was a bit nervous so that pretty much confirmed my suspicions. :) After we picked up the flowers at the store we headed over to the park and Mike asked if I could carry the flowers. He went to his trunk and got a couple of things out and said we should walk over to the huge tree and wait for my sisters there. Of course I was getting really excited at this point so I pretended I didn't see anything in his hands and said I would love to go over to the tree. When we got the the tree he handed me something. It was puzzle pieces. I put them together and they said, "Will You Marry Me, Kathleen Nease?". I was thrilled!!! About that time Mike got down on one knee and asked me. I said, "OF COURSE!!!!" He put it on my finger and we hugged and kissed. There was a random group of people sitting on a blanket across the field and they started cheering for us so that was pretty funny. Mike then told me that his friend, JC, was in the bushes taking pictures! I always wanted my proposal caught on pictures and Mike planned it! Here are some pictures form that glorious day.

After Mike and I had our moment, JC came out of the bushes and took some great pictures of us.

After all the pictures were taken Mike suggested that we go to campus and walk around a bit. It was great to have a little bit of time just to ourselves. While driving over there we called some family members and told them the great news. I wanted to call everyone but Mike said we might be seeing some of them later that evening. That made me really happy because I wanted to share this day with everyone. While we were walking around campus I got the great idea to text Kelley and Katelyn and ask them when they were getting to the park and that we were waiting on them. Of course I was teasing, but I wanted to stress them out and make them think Mike decided not to propose. Kel texted Mike and asked if anything was wrong, then I texted them back saying I was kidding. :) Around 5pm Mike and I headed to his house and most of our family and friends were there to celebrate with us! Even his mom and dad came all the way to Texas from Kansas for it! That meant so much to me! We had both of our favorite foods, BBQ and pizza! It was great. We got to tell the story to everyone and everyone was so excited for us. Here are some pictures from the party.

It was definitely one of the happiest days of my life! Can't wait to spend the rest of my life with Mike!!! Can we get married tomorrow?? :)

Merry Merry Christmas!

This year Mike and I had and early Christmas with my immediate family in College Station and then we went to Kansas for Christmas Day weekend. My parents were so kind to come to College Station so Kelley, Brian, Katelyn and I wouldn't have to travel anywhere. We all met up at Kelley and Brian's cabin they were staying in. When my mom and dad arrived with the presents Mike was a little shocked. My family loves to give each other presents so we had quite a few gifts. Picture courtesy of Mike:

We had a great dinner that Kelley and Brian fixed. We exchanged presents, played with Lucy and got to relax. It was a wonderful day spending time with family even if it wasn't on Christmas Day.














We decided to go to Kansas for Christmas Day weekend. One of the main reasons that we went was that Everett, Mike's nephew, was going to be there. Everett, Xianne and Isaac live in Singapore and they decided to come to the states for Christmas. This would be the second time that we got to see Everett so we were super excited! The entire family took turns playing with and holding Evie. He had an adorable Santa suit that he was wearing too!

 

 Evie probably received the most presents, but how could you not buy that little boy something? He was so great over the holidays. On Christmas Day the Penny's had Carmen's side of the family over for food and a gift exchange. The food was wonderful and it was great to see everyone. The gift exchange was fun too. There were tons of laughs and a lot of stealing presents. After lunch we all relaxed and didn't do much of anything. Mike and I went on a walk downtown and window shopped. It had snowed a couple of days before so we did have a white Christmas.

The next day Mike and I visited his Nonny and Aunt Susan just across town. It's always good visiting with them.

That evening we went with Jeremiah, Mike's friend, to pick out an engagement ring for his girlfriend. He picked out a gorgeous one! On New Year's Eve Mike and I got together Jeremiah and Tyler. We had dinner and then headed over to the casino in Kansas City. We had a great time and didn't lose too much money. :) The next day Dave, Carmen, Elijah, Mike and I went over to Uncle Mike and Aunt Michelle's house to visit with them and Aaron. While there Mike said he wasn't feeling well so he laid down. Ends up that Mike came down with something and stayed in bed for the next couple of days. In between looking in on him, Mike's mom and I went on walks and ran some errands. When it was time to leave Mike still wasn't feeling well so I drove back to Texas while he rested and slept.

Thanksgiving

This year Mike and I had Thanksgiving in Kansas. We were in Oklahoma a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving for my dad's alumni basketball game so we got to see my dad's side of the family then. We also got to shoot guns, walk around my grandma's farm and visit my cute cousins. Here are a couple of pictures from that weekend in Oklahoma.

 

So on to Thanksgiving. Mike and I piled into the car and headed to Kansas. It was very cold when we got there. I'm so glad Mike told me to pack some warm clothes! We got to visit with his parents and siblings and then Mike and I headed downtown and walked around. We love window shopping in downtown Lawrence. On Thanksgiving Day, Carmen and Dave had all the family in Lawrence to their house and I got to meet a lot of the family. They had around 25 people over to their house, and there was food for about 50! All the food was SO good though! We stuffed ourselves and got to visit with everyone. After everyone left, Mike, Juni and I went over to Best Buy so I could buy a TV. They opened at 8pm for Black Friday and when we drove up at 7:30pm it looked like this:

We waited in line and got in while they still had quite a bit of stuff left. I had my eye on the 46" or 50" flat screen TV, but with Mike and Juni with me I ended up buying the 55". :) They also talked me into buying an Apple TV (which was SUCH a good idea). I got a great deal on both items! It was a great Thanksgiving Day. The next day Carmen and I got to go on a walk over to KU. She showed me some of the main buildings on campus and we got to talk a lot. That evening the family headed over to Kansas City to see the lights downtown. It was beautiful. Cold, but beautiful.

We had a great time in Kansas for Thanksgiving. Here is one more picture of Mike wearing Elijah's hat. 

It's the most wonderful time of the year... Halloween

My favorite holiday is here!!! Every year on October 1st my place looks like Halloween throws up everywhere. This year I shared a house with 3 friends and my sister, Kylie, Sophia, Lindsay and Katelyn. They weren't as thrilled as me about Halloween, but they still let me put up the decorations including the fog machine. Here is the front yard. :)

My church, Grace Bible, always has a County Fair for Halloween, so for the past two years I have volunteered there and got to see all the kids dressed up and having fun. I also try and have a Halloween party every year if I have time and the space to do it. Since we were in a great house, we were able to invite friends over and hang out. I told people it was a dress up party and I was surprised to see how many people showed up in costumes! Here are some pictures of the party. 

I think we had a great turnout! We played ping pong, decorated cupcakes and had a bar in the backyard. We had a couple of trick-or-treaters, but not a ton. It was a great Halloween!