NO GIFTS PLEASE!

Jack had just decided to give Hinge another chance & Michelle was 3 hours into joining Hinge when Jack liked a picture of Michelle and her daughter, Madison. How could Michelle deny a guy who liked the picture of her baby?! They "matched" on Hinge and spent the next few days casually texting through the app. Michelle shamelessly asked Jack to Facetime her the night before their big date so she could make sure he was real! They went on their first date on Thursday, July 26th, and it was love at first sight! You could say the rest is history!!!!

Jack, Michelle and Madison flew to Sarasota to spend the weekend with Jack’s family. Michelle knew her parents were coming for part of the trip. On Friday morning, after a restless night for Jack, (it now makes sense!) they rushed out of the house and made their way to the marina where they had plans to take out the boat for the day. Looking back, Jack was extra quiet... but Michelle was distracted while entertaining Madison on the boat. They got to the Big Pass Sandbar and Michelle immediately took Madison into the water to get her comfortable with the sand and waves (she's a big ole chicken!). Jack told Michelle he was going to get back on the boat and move it so it didn’t drift away. Michelle saw Jack walk back towards them and he said “let’s take a picture” (not out of the ordinary!), and a teenage boy was there to take their picture. Jack picked Madison up and they lined up for the picture... and before Michelle knew it, Jack was down on one knee asking her to marry him. It was the easiest YES of Michelle’s life! They got back on the boat and went back to the marina to get Jack’s mom who was waiting on them. As they got closer to the marina, Jack said “look Madison, its Emma!” (Emma is Michelle’s niece). And sure enough, Michelle sobbed as she saw her sister, brother-in-law, niece, mom, dad, Jack’s parents and brother waiting for their arrival. That officially kicked off their engagement weekend! Si and Shannon threw a beautiful engagement party at Flemings that night surrounded by family and friends! It was the perfect way to celebrate the next chapter of their lives together!

COVID-19... yet another plan ruined! We made the decision to cancel our dream Sarasota Wedding on March 17, 2020 and many people thought we were crazy for making the decision so early. Little did we know, COVID would still be an ordeal over a year and a half later! A few weeks before our "wedding day", Jack decided he still wanted to get married on our original wedding date. We quickly registered Michelle's dad, Steve, to be ordained as a minister! We drove from county to county in Texas trying to find a court house that would issue a marriage license (we found one 2 hours north of Houston!), and we threw together a last minute wedding. Our gracious family friends offered us their ranch the week of the wedding and IT WAS ABSOLUTELY MAGICAL! Surrounded by Michelle's family and Jack's family on Zoom, we said I DO! And boy were we happy to get married when we did. One month later we decided to officially cancel the rescheduled November wedding and just get on with our life because there was no end in sight with COVID. 11 months after we said "I do", we welcomed our son Lincoln Robert McAninch into our family! We look forward to celebrating our wedding/vow renewal/party (we still don't know what it is called?!) with you in 2022! And we feel blessed to share this special moment with our two children in tow!