Casey enrolled at IUP in 2010 and pleged the Sigma Chi Fraturnity in Spring of 2011. Katlyn enrolled at IUP two years later and joined the Delta Zeta sorority in 2013. Unknowingly, they both spent many of their weekends, including the frequent Sunday Funday, at the Sigma Chi Fraturnity House. As the the fall semester of 2013 began, Delta Zeta hosted a car wash in the Family Video (R.I.P.) parking lot. Little did Katlyn know, Casey would show up in his Subaru to get it washed and support the DZ fundraiser; lets keep in mind, he let no one touch or drive his car. This would be the first time the two would cross paths, or so she thought. One Saturday night, Katlyn was walking down the hall of the house (where else would she be?) and out of nowhere, Casey pulled her aside and spilt the beans. Apparently, he had noticed her the semester before and wanted to ask her out. Their first “offical” date was to the Sigma Chi 40th anniversary party to honor the fraternties time in Indiana, PA thusfar. After that, everything was history.

I took Casey to meet my parents at Ponderosa in good ol’ Indiana. A very typically scenario began to take place. Casey and I showed up. My parents showed up. We sat down, got our bread, made small talk and waited for our food. Everyone seemed to be getting along, which was great! After an hour went by and we still didnt have food, the waitress came by and said, they were finally cooking our steaks. By this time, we were running out of things to say and frankly, getting a bit hungry. More time went by and the waitress came back over and said, “I’m sorry but we ran out of steaks. They are going to get more.” You ran out of steaks? Ponderosa ran out of steaks? Was this a joke? Of course, the first time my parents meet Casey this happens. At this point, the four of us weren’t going to wait any longer. We left with four free food vouchers and ended our day at the Wendy’s drive through with my parents. After that, I knew Casey was a keeper; more so because I took my roommates out to eat with the free vouchers. Kat met my parents before we headed off to a Penguin game over Thanksgiving Break. I told them two things, 1) Don’t embarass me and 2) Don’t ask a lot of questions. As soon as Kat arrived, we go down to the basement to hang out prior to heading to the game. The first words Kirk, my Dad, says are “So I was told we weren’t allowed to ask alot of questions.” Good thing Kat gets my dad’s sense of humor and was able to play along. Each of our parents’ personalities compliment one another so well and we couldn’t be more grateful to call them ours.

Katlyn and Casey decided that Christmas Eve 2019 was going to be different. They were going to take on the task of hosting both families at their house for the Italian Feast of the Seven fishes. They’ve hosted people for gatherings before, but this was special because both families would be together for the holiday season. They planned everything from the food to the decorations to the games, or at least Katlyn thought they did. Casey had something of his own to add to the excitement. Everyone gathered around the dining room table while playing the “saran wrap game” yelling and screaming to throw the dice and unwrap the big ball to win the small gifts wrapped tightly inside. Once the game was over, Lisa, Casey’s mom, and Cara, Casey’s oldest sister, came down the steps with a bunch of small boxes and one big box. They explained the game like this: each little box was labeled with a number. Cara would call out numbers from a bag. If your number was called, you opened your small box. If there was something inside, your chance at winning the big box would be gone. Little did Katlyn know, her box was the only one empty. When her number 6 was called, she got to open the big box. Flower peddels fell out as she russeled through the box to find out what was inside. She found a distressed white picture frame with a picture of the two of them on their Wildwood vacation that said “Will You Marry Me?”. Katlyn turned around and found Casey on his knee. What is the significance to the number 6? Carper family tradition during Christmas time means labeling gifts with numbers. Number one is Cara, two is Cayla, three is Casey, four is James, five is Dana, and the newest number six...Katlyn.