It's all about the 254!

A couple of weeks ago, Nathan and I took our engagement photos! In case you didn't know, I love pictures!!! So...when the day got closer, I got really nervous. I made Nathan go to the mall with me about 6 times in one weekend! Poor guy...

We took our photos in downtown Grapevine, Texas. I was so excited to have Bludoor Studios, Mike and ReJana Krause take our pictures. They were the photographers at Claire and David's wedding. I love their work, and I am so excited to have them as our photographers! They also have a talent at calming me down, because believe it or not I get a little shy when it comes to things like this.

Midway through, Nathan and I did a costume change (in the middle of the street) and put on T-shirts for our Rock Band photo shoot! We ordered shirts from Congress Clothing in Waco, TX. The shirts said, "It's all about the 254." 254 is the area code for Waco. Nathan and I both went to Baylor and our wedding is going to be in Waco, so we thought these shirts were perfect!

Here are some more of our favorites!

If you want to see all of the pictures, please visit the site below and enter the gallery!

http://images.bludoorstudios.com/whitneyandnathan

Hopefully it is my LUCKY week!

So on Thursday last week, Kalee and I bought a few scratch of cards just for fun...long, long story short, we WON $200. We were so excited! Kalee started crying after we won the first 50 bucks, before I knew it my arm was black and blue from her slapping me in excitement!

On Saturday, we all got together at the Benedict's for the OU/texas game...(that was actually not a lucky part of my week). Brad Coon made us a grid for the game. We all signed ten squares and the person with the winning numbers at the end of each quarter won $22.50. I entered the contest with some of the money I had won on Thursday! Even though I didn't like the outcome of the game, I had the numbers 5/5. So I won a dirty $22.50. On a side note, I would have traded my winnings for an Oklahoma win, but I will give my congrats to Texas (I guess).

Tonight, Nathan was working on the computer, I was playing double solitaire. For those of you who don't know, it is a really hard game to win. I have been playing for years, and until tonight I can count the number of times I have won on one hand. Well...I sat down tonight shuffled the cards...and I won. Then I shuffled again, and weirdly I won again. I WON four times. I looked at Nathan and I said, "We have got to go buy a lottery ticket!" So we did! We went to the local gas station, asked the lady for help because we were clueless about how to do it and we purchased our first lottery ticket.

Tomorrow night at 10:00, we will find out if this is truely a LUCKY week!

Stay tuned...

Weekends with Maddie & Tommy

This post is a tad belated, but in August we got to spend two really fun weekends with Whitney's niece and nephew, Maddie and Tommy, in two different states.

In the first weekend, they came here to Arlington and pretty much showed us up on Rock Band for most of the weekend. We warned them that it was a bit harder than Guitar Hero, but they didn't even seemed phased as Tommy's vocals rocked the apartment and Maddie drummed circles all around us. The rest of the weekend consisted of a water park, a lot of sugar and junk food, a movie in the park, The Dark Knight and cards with The Benedicts.

Two weeks later, we stayed at Jeff & Debbie's in Norman. It was a nice relaxing weekend that Whitney and I really needed. It was fun just sitting around and watching movies, swimming, and putting Legos and puzzles together. Spring Creek welcomed us with open arms on Sunday and we got to visit with some of Whitney's extended family in Oklahoma City. Preston did a great job with the sermon and it was good to see all of the Graham's old friends and family again.

I've obviously have been around Maddie and Tommy before, but it was a lot of fun for just the four of us to hang out with each other without having to celebrate a holiday or a special occasion. It was exciting to know that soon I'll be their uncle and that there would be plenty more of opportunities to spoil them! :)

The Engagement!

Our friend, Kourtney Beauchamp, was super kind to be there to not just help me pull of the event, but to take pictures of it as well! There is one with the three of us but I haven't received it from her yet, so once I get it I'll put it on here. Enjoy!

P.S. If my eyes seem a little red, it somehow got a little dusty in the room... :)

Relaxing in New Braunfels!

Well, we have had an eventful for summer. After getting engaged, Nathan and I traveled back down I-35 for Amber and Cliff's wedding in Austin. It was a beautiful wedding, and we had a wonderful time seeing friends, visiting, even kayaking in Town Lake. The very next weekend, we migrated south again to New Braunfels! Nathan and I met Claire and David for a fun-filled weekend in New Braunfels, Gruene and Wimberly! On Friday night the four of us two-stepped our way through Gruene, TX. We ate a wonderful dinner on the river and then danced in the oldest dance hall in Texas, Gruene Hall...

On Saturday morning, we shopped in Gruene, and then headed to the country for a wine tasting at Dry Comal Creek. Needless to say, we had fun trying Texas wines and relaxing on the back porch of the winery!

Then off to Wimberly for Alathea and Justin's wedding! Their wedding was at Old Glory Ranch. It was a beautiful setting and wonderful evening. We had a great time catching up with friends, dancing and celebrating the newlyweds!

Rene' and Chalker matched the boys, so of course they had to pose for pictures and dance a few times!

Friends!!!!

It was so fun getting to share our engagement with close friends...

Congratulations, Justin and Alathea!

On Sunday morning, Claire, David, Nathan and I headed north and stopped in San Marcos for some shopping!! Three hours later, we said our goodbyes and headed home. We had a wonderful mini-vacation!!

The Big Celebration

It takes a lot to throw off Whitney and one of the hardest things was to get the celebration party together without her knowing it...especially getting her family there. Claire took care of all the legistics of the party because I was focusing on really getting the proposal down. It couldn't have gotten done without her (thanks Claire!) and for everybody else for throwing Whitney off pretty much all month.

While driving down to Arlington, I still had to withhold information from Whitney. We talked about how I talked to her parents and she kept on asking me, "Did they know it was happening today?" I replied with a yes but still had to reveal as little information as possible. Her brother, Jeff, and his family left from their Florida vacation early to get to the party and her parents lied about being in Atlanta, GA, all week while taking camp at Jeff's house in Norman.

Needless to say, she was shocked to see both her family and mine there! I'll let the pictures do the talking...

David greeting us...

I think she was a bit happy to see her family...

We were both quite happy... We couldn't have asked for a more perfect moment!

The Grahams with the Chandlers.... The Jacksons, Benedicts and Rose family.

The friends who helped make it happen....

With friends and family like this, we love being Nathan and Whitney...

He proposed!

On Friday, July 4th, Nathan I went to a wedding in Austin, Texas. We had a wonderful time hanging out with Nathan's friends, celebrating Abel's wedding, watching fireworks and playing guitar hero. On Saturday, July 5th, we started our drive home to Arlington. I "thought" we were going to stop in Waco to watch clips of Kourtney's new movie and eat dinner with her and Adam. Nathan and I drove to the Smith's house, hurriedly got ready and raced to the Mayborn Museum on Baylor's campus to watch Kourtney's movie (so I thought)! We went into the museum and a cute little museum attendant showed us into a full movie theater with stadium seating. Nathan and I sat down, the lights went out and Kourtney disappeared. Then a movie started...a movie with all of my favorite movies...all of my favorite tv shows...my favorite song...

I was scared to assume it was for me. Nathan and I sat in the dark watching the movie, not talking, not looking at eachother. The lights came on, and Nathan got down on one knee! He proposed, I said "YES!" And he gave me a beautiful ring!
Then we had an hour and half to drive to Arlington. We both calmed down and had a great time driving up I-35. We called our parents, family and friends. It was really strange saying, "Dad, I'm engaged." I was so sad that my parents weren't going to get to see my ring and see me on my engagement day. Nathan told me to call Claire and tell her we were on our way. The Benedict's, Rose's, Jackson's, Coon's, Jennifer, Beau and Stacey were waiting at the Benedict's for us to arrive! When we walked in the backyard, everyone greeted us on the porch of the game room. They all cheered, we hugged, they high-fived Nathan, and then I saw Tommy, my nephew in my face. I looked up and Mom and Dad were there! So was Jeff and Debbie, Maddie and Tommy! Nathan's Mom and Dad were there too! And Jessie and Marc, Nathan's sister and brother-in-law! It was an amazing party, and we are blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. I am thrilled to be Nathan and Whitney...

We are getting married!!

Nathan and I are engaged to be married! We are creating this page to share fun stories, pictures and even engagement "movies" with our friends and families.
If you know me well you know I love to tell stories. When I share stories about Nathan with my co-workers, one of my supervisors always rolls his eyes and says, "Whitney, you are so spoiled." And I sarcastically respond, "Oh, please, you know it is hard being me."
Throughout our relationship, we have had a remarkable time getting to know one another. We have become friends with eachother friends, shared family holidays, taken numerous roadtrips and watched countless hours of our favorite tv shows and movies! It has been so wonderful, we find ourselves constantly saying, "Man, it is so hard being us..."