Our Story

Who would have ever thought that a boy throwing a football on the beach with his dad would be the man I am going to marry!

Ten years ago, Memorial Day weekend, my mom and grandmother drove me to Orange Beach, Alabama for a typical summer weekend at the beach with the Tidmore's. Marlena, one of my best friends, and I spent several weekends at the beach each summer at her PaPa and NaiNai's Condo. This particular trip, I was a day later getting to the beach. Maria, Marlena's mom, called and said I needed to hurry and get there because there is a really cute boy throwing the football with his dad on the beach.

Now, I was never one to think that boys had "cooties," so naturally I was very excited! The next day, Mar and I were on a "hunt" for this cute boy throwing the football. Needless to say, we found him and he was definitely cute!

Marlena was twelve at the time and I had just turned thirteen; we all know how girls act at that age! Not normal! So, we decided to send Jacob, Marlena's youngest brother to ask this boy to come play. He took the bait! Mitch was the boy throwing the football!

The rest of the trip, we were inseparable! Mitch had been wearing a thick rubber band on his wrist and before we all had to leave, I ended up with it. He wrote, "Big pimpin' with tha rubba band... #16" on the rubber band before he gave it to me. We exchanged phone numbers, he went back home to Amory, Mississippi, and I went home to Columbiana, Alabama.

For the next two years, we talked EVERY single night on the telephone for hours at a time! I quickly found out that Mitch is definitely one to do things on his own time. These phone calls were not at normal hours; he typically called between ten and twelve o'clock at night. Anyone who knows me, knows that I go to bed early. However, I was smitten!

Mitch's Aunt Nelda lives close to my home town, so we were able to have a movie date. Well, kind of! Aunt Nelda drove Mitch to meet my mom and I because neither of us could drive! We saw Fast And The Furious, and again, went our separate ways.

The next summer, our families took us back to the beach, and like the summer before, we were inseparable!

After that summer, and throughout the last eight years, we kept in touch as much as we could, or if you ask me, as much as Mitch would!

Mitch went on to Mississippi State to play baseball, and I competed in Miss Alabama and stayed close to home and went to the University of Montevallo. For most of those years, I sent messages on holiday's and his birthday. As I said before, Mitch always did things on his own time and every once in a while, I would get one of those random midnight phone calls! One of the last times I saw Mitch was at the SEC Baseball Tournament his sophmore year; he had his "girlfriend" there.

Nevertheless, I still felt the same about him as though we were still at the beach so many summers before.

Mitch and I would talk occasionally, but that was pretty much it; just catching up and keeping in touch. He had a girlfriend, and I had a boyfriend.

My mom and I kept up with him by following his baseball statistics on the internet throughout his college and minor league years. September 6, 2009, I didn't send Mitch a birthday message for the first time since we had met ten years ago.

Remember, Mitch does things on his own time. Two months later, I got one of his random messages on none other than, Facebook! He said that he and his mom and sister Mallory had just finished watching Fast And The Furious (our first "date"), and it made him think about me. At first, I was a little angry because he sent a message so randomly after not responding to so many of mine! The anger didn't last long because I responded almost immediately! I didn't think I would hear anything else from him because that is how he typically operated. I would hear from him, and then I wouldn't. However, he wrote back in like ten minutes! Then, he asked me if he could CALL me! Well, you all know what I said, and so he did!

I was in the middle of my internship and Mitch was getting ready to go to Surprise, Arizona the next week. After three nights of four hour phone conversations and picking up as though we never left off, we decided to see each other; just as friends. So, we did, and here we are!

The Proposal

Poor Mitch! He knew I had been ready for a while!

Three weeks into our rekindled relationship, we were back to the "I love you's," and a couple of months in, we had already mentioned the "M" word!

This year has been filled with so many blessings in our lives that happened so fast. During "the season," I made many trips to Oklahoma, Nashville, Memphis, and Arizona. I am not going to pretend like it was easy! Seeing him once a month was tough! I missed him; a lot! I cried; a lot (ha ha)!

On July 29, 2010, Mitch got "THE CALL!" I was in the middle of getting my first classroom ready and dropped everything to find a flight to Arlington, Texas! One of the best perks of the Big Leagues to me is that I got to become a frequent flier! Mitch and I were both able to go to places neither of us had ever been before.

During the playoffs, we decided we wanted to go to the mountains to relax in the Smokies for a weekend.

As that weekend got closer, he was more and more adamant, that "it" was not going to happen! He kept assuring me that he just wanted to have fun and that he had not gotten his "Playoff" check yet!

Thursday night before we left, he told me not to "get ready" the next morning. By getting ready, he meant make-up! He just wanted me to shower and put on a t-shirt and sweats. You know me, I still put on make-up and got ready Friday morning before we left!

On our way, we stopped at Bass Pro Shop in Pigeon Forge to look at a Bow for me! We stayed and shot a few arrows and he decided I wasn't that bad!

Mitch was pretty quiet the whole ride. He told me it was just because he hates traffic.

When we finally got to the cabin, he told me he wanted to take a nap. I said ok, and that while he napped, I would get ready. He told me no and that I needed to take a nap too! So, I did, and he didn't!

When I woke up, he wasn't anywhere to be found! When I opened the door, I saw some old pictures of us that I knew I did not bring. Mitch had written me notes and placed them with groups of pictures of us thoughout the years.

I assumed he had either cooked dinner or had dinner brought in and that is why he was so insistant that I did not need to "get ready."

When I finally got to him, there was an empty picture frame. Before he got down on one knee, he asked me if we could fill a frame on November 12th for the rest of our lives!

The rest you already know; I said, "YES!"

The Wedding

Mitch and I got married one year and one day later! Our wedding day was definitely one of the best days of my life! 

Our wedding was at the Renaissance Ross Bridge Resort in Hoover, Alabama. It was a BIG wedding and was filled with our family and friends! We had twenty-six of our closest friends in our wedding party, and it was a PARTY! 

All of the details that I stressed over for months and months, right down to the very day, were perfect! Even though one of our precious groomsmen decided to throw a fire extinguisher off of the balcony the night before the wedding, everything was again, PERFECT!

I will never forget seeing Mitch's face for the first time as I was walking down the aisle to become his wife! You always want that "fairytale moment." Well, I had mine! 

The Honeymoon

Mitch and I spent our honeymoon and what changed our lives forever at Cap Juluca on the beautiful island  Anguilla! 

Yes, we had drinks, great food, enjoyed the sand and the sun, did what honeymooners do, and yes made our sweet blessing, Crue!