Today I am linking up with Megan from In This Wonderful Life (along with a few other ladies) for their Love and Marriage series.
Some may find this story boring but I don't think I have ever blogged about how Nathan and I met and I would like to have it documented somewhere on my blog in case my baby(s) want to go back and read this someday (they may not either!).
In 8th grade my parents signed my family up to go on a ski trip with my church youth group. My parents have always enjoyed doing thing with us kids so it was no surprise they wanted to go and chaperone a group from our youth group. My cousin Jarrod also went with us so they ended up chaperoning the group of boys he was staying with. There were only 2 boys from my parents group that actually went to our church. The other 6 or 7 boys were invited by them so they could take a Spring Break trip together. Among that group of boys was a boy named, Nathan...and this is where it all started :)
I was NOT interested in Nathan on this ski trip. We have not been dating since I was in 8th grade. I mean, I WAS only 14 years old and couldn't even think about dating until I was at LEAST 16....but that could change with any given day, depending on Dad's mood :) What can I say, I'm a Daddy's girl! I did get to know Nate though and this is actually the part of the story where we became friends. As a matter of fact, if we didn't go on this ski trip we never would have been friends so I guess you could say this is where our story began.
Nathan and I went to different Junior Highs and he was a year older than me so we didn't really ever see each other unless he came to church with one of his friends (he went to a different church so this rarely happened). In 10th grade we finally started going to school together at Springdale Junior High. I remember the first time I saw Nate when I started going to school there. Our high school was split by a road. Some classes were on one side of the street and other classes on the other side. After my history class I had to cross the street for my next class. As I was crossing the street I saw Nate coming towards me. He had changed A LOT since the last time I saw him. He was very tall and had obviously been lifting weights for some time. He had his head shaved and smiled SO big when he saw me! I gave him a big hug because it was nice to see a familiar face in such a big school. We caught up for a few minutes but couldn't talk long because we had to get to our next class. From that day on, we would talk as we saw each other on that crosswalk but that was it. Nothing ever came of it, we were just friends.
That next year, Harber High School opened in Springdale. Springdale High School was way overpopulated so they had to build a new school. My class had the option to stay or move to the new school and I chose to move. The school was right next to my parents neighborhood and most of my friends were moving too. It just seemed to make sense for me. Nathan on the other hand was a senior and all of his friends were staying at Springdale. The football team was also unbeatable that year so he decided to stay back at Springdale. We didn't even think a thing about it. I don't even think we noticed that we didn't go to school together anymore.
The summer between my junior and senior year, my best friend Ashtyn and I went to the Grape Festival like we do every year. We have done this since we became friends in 8th grade so it was no surprise we went this night. Most of the kids in town came because it gave us something different to do and you also got to see all of your friends you hadn't seen over the summer. We were walking through the crowds talking to people we knew as we saw them. As we were walking over by all of the people gambling at the crap tables I saw Nate walking towards us with a friend. We stopped and talked for a bit (a LONG bit) and then went our seperate ways. I am pretty sure I talked about Nathan ALL night long to Ashtyn. She more than likely wanted to kill me :) But, once again nothing came of it. The next night, we went back up to the Grape Fest to walk around again (I'm telling you, in our town it's a BIG deal). We ended up running into Nathan again! This time, he asked for my number and wanted to call me to hang out. I tried to act cool but I am 99% sure I squealed when he walked away! He ended up calling me that night to go see a movie with him....and sadly, I can say my best friend went on our first date! HA!
He ended up calling me again the next day to invite me to church with him the following weekend. I had to look cute because this would be the first time I met his parents. I wore my black wrap dress with red heels and accessories....I didn't think about how hard it would be to get into a jacked up Dodge with my heels on so Nathan ended up picking me up and throwing me (literally, throwing me) in! One of my best memories with that boy!
We dated an entire year and on August 14th, 2007, 3 moths after I graduated High School, Nathan and I got engaged right in the spot we met at the Grape Festival! Nathan proposed in front of EVERYONE that was there. I still can't believe to this day that he did that! Our friends and family were hiding in the crowds and they immediatly came out to congratulate us! That is one night that I will never ever forget. Billy Dean (a country singer Nathan and I both like) was performing that night and someone actually told him that we just got engaged! He ended up calling both of us on stage and we slow danced to a song he wrote for his wife and sang to her as she walked down the aisle at their wedding (I later walked down the aisle to the same song!) It was one of the best nights of my life.
We waited 2 years and 1 month to get married. On September 19, 2009 we tied the knot on my grandparents farm in Oklahoma in front of the most beautiful waterfall. Our family and friends were there and it was the most perfect day of my life. We will be married 4 years this September. We've been through a lot but I love that boy and am thankful for him and his goofy, loving, hard working, quick witted personality! He keeps me on my toes but I wouldn't trade him for anything! He loves me more than anything always makes sure that I know that. He is a Godly leader for our family and loves his baby boy more than words can describe. He is a wonderful daddy and husband but he is also my very best friend. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to blog about the way we met...we are still going strong 7 years later!
The Avey's
My handsome cowboy
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