Bye, bye 2009; hello 2010

Well 2009 is coming to and end in about 3 hours so I figured that I would catch you up on what has happened the last year between the two of us. There is not that much so bare with me. First I finished up helicopter school in February and then quickly moved back to KC to start my flying job in March. In June I asked Kasi to marry me and she said yes but it took awhile to get the actual word cause she could not stop crying. Then Kasi quit her job and moved in KC to be with me and start her photography business. We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family and Kasi's mom came in to town to celebrate that with us as well. Christmas was also with my family and Kasi got to see how we celebrate even though it was a couple of days late because of the snow. As for tonight the two of us went out for a date since those are already getting to few. As for 2010 on what that may bring. Well the wedding is in May quickly followed by a honeymoon. I think the wedding will keep us pretty busy for the first part of the year. After the wedding I am looking forward to finishing out the year with Kasi as my wife.

Registry

We've had a lot of people asking so we thought we'd post where we are registered.

Right now we are registered at Kohl's and are partially registered (Kasi went online at night and picked a few things to start the registry) at Target and Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

6 months to the Wedding!

The plans are underway and coming along nicely! Our wedding party is set and I'm SO excited! I never dreamed about my wedding day but after college, I planned who I would have stand with me on this special day. Today, that plan is finally complete and I couldn't be more excited! Hattie, Serena, Maria, Amber, and Nicole. The girls who have been the most loyal friends I could ever ask for and who have been there for me through thick and thin and helped shape me into the person I am today. I love these girls! Thank you for the honor of standing with me for the most important day of my life. WOOHOO!!!!

We are still sending out our Save-the-Date cards (we've been a little slow there.) But they are coming! It's amazing how many people are in my family. I love that! I think Kevin and I will keep our family small, however. :) As I was writing down everyone in my family, it just warmed my heart to think of how many people are out there that love me. Although they have to, we are related. :) Now we have the pleasure of bringing our families together and I CAN'T WAIT for everyone that we have known and loved over the years to be together in one room! I'm almost more excited about that and of course, our Honeymoon nights! Come on, I'm only human. :)

For those of you who may be reading this, here are some details of the wedding:
Date: May 29, 2010
Place: First Christian Church of North Kansas City
Reception: Airline History Museum

Rehearsal Dinner for the wedding party and out of town family: Friday night at Kevin's house
Sunday Brunch for all out of town guests or better known as a Reames Brunch. :) Sunday morning at the hotel. (The hotel will be determined soon)

We will do our best to keep everyone updated on the details as we go along.

A warm November

Well in Kansas City we are experiencing a warm November so far this month and next week looks pretty much the same. Kasi has been in KC now for a month and she is right back in step from when she left. For those of you that do not know her photography business is up and running. Check out her website at www.reamesphotography.com So if you need pictures let her know. She will travel. So I only go out on one rotation between now and Thanksgiving. I lucked out and got a training week on Thanksgiving. I then will go out one more time before Christmas and then I will be off for the rest of the year. I love this job.

All moved in!!

Well Kasi and I moved all her stuff to Kansas City last Friday and everything went surprisingly well. The only problem that we had was the rain. It rained while we packed the moving van, it rained while we drove through Illinois, and it rained while we drove through Iowa. We traded the rain for high winds in Missouri but arrived in Olathe without any problems. After unloading the van on Saturday we took in a NASCAR race on Sunday. I have been to the truck races but this was both ours first experience with the Sprint series. Thanks Uncle Bill and Mike for the tickets. While the race was boring (no crashes) Kasi got excited about all the free stuff. Between the two of us we came away with two hats, a pair of headphones, posters, work gloves and several other things. Over all we had a great day just a little sun burnt. So over the next few weeks we are going to do some hanging out around the house and do some rearranging in my room so we can get both of our clothes in the same room.

E-Session Photos

We have photos!! Thank you to Kim Shaw for taking these photos for us!

Do you think we enjoyed Oshkosh

Fun week ahead

Well the coming week will is going to be really fun. How you may ask? Well that is why you are here reading this. Kasi is coming to Kansas City this week to hang out with me. Starting Saturday we begin the official process of planning a wedding. First stop is the reception location. Then on Monday we are looking a church. All the while we are looking for everything else that is involved with a wedding. That takes place while she is here. Thursday I begin the process of introducing her to my little addiction called airplanes. To do that I am taking her to the Experimental Aircraft Association Convention called Airventure or better know as Oshkosh. We will be spending Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the show which will be barely enough time to do everything. As an added bonus Saturday night we will get to see Jeff Dunham. After that it is back to the grid as my nearly two months off will be over as I return to flying. No worries as I have been getting paid all this time.

We're Engaged!

Kevin and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary on Friday and we can hardly believe how quickly that year flew by! To celebrate, I drove down to KC for the weekend to spend it with Kevin and his family.
We had a great weekend planned of dinners and visiting with friends and family, including a fun morning at a Photo Safari. This was a group of photographers going about KC capturing creative shots to submit at the end of the Safari for voting. Little did I know, this Safari would literally change my life! :)
Kevin, his sister Janelle and I started out on our Safari going to several locations around downtown KC. Our last stop was to Antioch Park. As we had been doing, we got out and all went our separate ways to capture the park on film. After short time, I caught back up with Kevin who was out on a rock path across the pond and Janelle was over on a bridge. Kevin called me over requesting I photograph something in the water. When I looked, I saw nothing and turned to ask him what. Upon turning back, Kevin had dropped to one knee and was holding a box with the most amazing ring gleaming back at me. TOTAL SHOCK! I couldn't believe it and just like a girl, tears began rolling down my face. (I couldn't help it!) :)
Kevin asked me to be his wife and after several minutes of me crying from joy and just plain being speechless and in shock, I finally answered with a YES!
The whole event was captured on camera by Janelle, which is so perfect! I've always been the one photographing or helping set up, engagements, and now, it was my turn.

Looking back over the past year and just before meeting Kevin, it's completely amazing to see how my life and our lives together have changed. God is so amazing!
Looking ahead, we have a new chapter to begin. Lots of time will be spent on wedding planning (can't wait to register!!!!) and building a future together. Oh, and one tiny little detail, working on getting back to KC. Everything will work out in the right timing, but it sure would be great to do all this preparing and planning together in the same state.

Kevin,
You have completely changed my life and I'm so thankful for the day you came into my world. Every talk we have, every moment we share together, I fall deeper and deeper in love with you. I can't wait to spend my life with you.
I love you. xoxox to infinity and beyond!

So I am waiting in the hotel for the rental car company to bring us a new car. My boss and I went out to the car this morning and the back right tire was flat. So I am sitting here for the next two hours waiting for a new car to get here. Well I am back in Florida this time with my new job and I have money. A situation that I am not use to. I am on my second rotation and just finished my first six days off in a row and it was wonderful. I spent the entire time in Chicago with Kasi and we got to spend much needed time together. With her being able to work out of her apartment we got to spend many hours together alone which is something that has not happended in a while. Yes we enjoy hanging out with family and friends but it is nice to be together without having to be anywhere. The two of us got to do some traditional dating like going to the movies and dinner something else that we have been lacking in. This past weekend we went over and visited Kasi's friends Maria and Tim. They were very gracious in letting us stay with them and provided good company to be around.

Busy as always

I am finally out of Florida. Kasi came down to Florida the last week in March and helped me move the remaining stuff back home. However, we decieded to do some tourist stuff while we where there. We went over to Walt Disney's Hollywood studios and hung out there for the day. The best part was waiting in line for the Toy Story Midway Mania which is a 3D interactive game. The wait was well worth it. The following day we went to the beach and both got a sunburn which helped me get rid of the farmers tan I had. The last thing that we did was go over to the Kennedy Space Center and toured that. All I can say is the Apollo rockets are huge. After that we packed up the trailer and moved out. After I dropped off some stuff at Kasi's apartment I headed back to Kansas City. Well last weekend Kasi came to Kansas City to visit me only a week after we were in a car for two whole days. I guess she really really loves me.

Adventures of flying

So I have not actually started doing anything related to my new job but this past week was an adventure. On Sunday a friend of mine who flies human organs called me asking if I would like to tag along. Well not wanting to turn down anything related to flying I said sure. So we went out to the Lee's Summit airport and flew to Scott's Bluff NE. There we picked up a liver and flew it to the Kansas City Downtown Airport. Even though I do not who received the liver but I had a small part in saving someones life. The second great adventure was flying to Georgia to pick up another Cessna 206 for the company that I am flying for. Five and half hours later we were in Georgia. Spent the night in Gainsville GA and then went to the airport in the morning. Then another five hours back to Kansas City. That does not include the training flights that I still had to complete for the new job. I think I can really enjoy flying everyday for work. To finish out the month I get to see Kasi on Wednesday which of course makes me happy. We are still on track of seeing each other at least once a month.

The first week

Well the not working for 8 months came to an end bright and early on the 9th of March. At 9 a.m. I was at the airport bright and early to start the new job. The first day was nothing but doing paper work and the usual stuff for new employees. The whole purpose of the first two weeks of the new job was to build hours in a Cessna 206. Well Tuesday it was bad weather but on Wednesday the fun began. So what did we do the first day? We flew to get barbecue. Thursday we just flew around to work on my skills. Friday we flew to Sikeston MO. What for you may ask? Lunch again at the world famous Lambert's. So while I am getting plenty of flying in I am sure not getting hungry either. Next week much of the same stuff, tasting the local cuisine.

Full down autorotation

This is what a full down autorotation looks like from the cockpit.

Holy cow the month of February is over and even though it is the shortest month there was a lot done in 28 days. First and for most for those who have not heard I have a job. I know some of you were wondering how I was going pay back all the loans that I took out to pay for helicopter school. The funny part about it is I am not flying helicopters now. I have taken a job flying airplanes doing aerial mapping. Basically I will be flying an airplane and taking pictures of the ground. Not terribly exciting work but will definitely build the hours. The second big thing that happened this month was that Kasi and I got to go Atlanta and meet her dad and other relatives that live there. I had an excellent weekend and glad I got to meet everyone. It has been a while since I was a part of a huge family get together and it was fun. The third big piece of news is I passed my last flight test here in Florida. I am now a Certified Flight Instructor or CFI in helicopters. I had been panicking the last few day wondering if I was going to be able to get everything done. But on Thursday I was at the airport by 9 and the check ride was over by 4:15. It was a long but fruitful day. Starting Monday I will be heading back to Kansas City to start the new job on the 9th of March. Then two weeks of training and then back down to Florida to get the rest of my stuff and enjoy one last weekend with Kasi on the beach. So hopefully this will be an OK excuse for not keeping this updated. Since I have a little more free time now expect a little more contribution to the blog.

Well if you all have been wondering where Kasi and I have been at all I can say is busy. Kasi has been pretty busy with work that last couple of weeks. As for myself I have been working on my Flight Instructor rating which while a fairly easy rating to get, but requires a lot of grunt work to get it done. With us being so busy we have taken the weekend off and heading to Atlanta to go see Kasi's dad, and the rest of her family that is in Atlanta. While Kasi is still in her bed in Chicago waiting for her flight I have an 8 hours drive ahead of me. So with that I am out the door.

Rocket Launch and fun

So last night a group of us from school headed toward the beach to watch a Delta IV rocket take a spy satellite into space. Well the original launch time was at 7:33 pm but that ended up getting delayed 2 hours. So what do you do in those two hours waiting for a very large candle takeoff. Well you get a flashlight and set you camera to a long exposure time. The result, well I think it speaks for itself. What better way to show your affection for someone.

Happy 7 months, honey!

Well I must say that I am a horrible blog editor. For almost three weeks you have not heard from Kasi or I and for that I apologize. However, I am here now with a recap of what the two of us have been doing. First, I flew to Virgina for Christmas with Kasi and her mom and the three of us had a wonderful time. I was able to meet Kasi's friends Nicole and Tim and their baby. Then Kasi took me to Washington, DC to visit all the attractions there including the Air and Space Museum. All I can say was that I had too much fun and seeing everything there was awesome.! Christmas was fun and crazy just like I am use to with a huge family gathering. I got to meet all of Kasi's uncles and cousins who are just as much fun as Kasi is. Then her and I drove back to Illinois which was going to be the biggest test of our relationship, 12 hours in the car together. We had no problems at all and are ready for our next big road trip. Back in Chicago we just relaxed. Kasi had to work a couple of days so I tagged along on one of those days. Worked out great because I got some studying done. I also got to meet one of Kasi's best friends, Maria and her family one night where we played Blockus. For New Year's we went over to one of Kasi's co-worker, Cathy's house to celebrate with Cathy and Steve and their friends. We had great time bringing in the new year together! Unfortunately all good things must end and last night I was on a plane back to Orlando to finish up ground school. So we hope everyone had a good Christmas and wishing everyone a Happy New Year.