“He’s a 10 but he lives in Bethalto” the infamous words that would attract John’s attention to this sassy, blonde, babe, Sami. John gave Sami his number and she would *67 him for two weeks because she didn’t want a weirdo boy to have her number. Alas, one day, John received a call from an unknown California number while he was at the gym. They talked for 45 mins. We are unsure of the next time line, but Sami had a 3 day teach week and asked John Wednesday and Thursday to come to Stovall’s to meet for the first time. He turned her down both days and Thursday she hinted at him that he should bring clothes to go dancing after work because his work was closer to Troy for The Lodge. John is a male and didn’t listen. Friday Sami called him and convinced him to go to the Lodge. (Couple of notes: 1. John drove 45 mins home to back track that drive + more for a 1.5hr drive to the Lodge. 2. He had to be at work at 7am the next day but still came 3. If he would have brought clothes to work and showered at a nearby gym this could have saved him a lot of time and driving)

ANYWHOOOO John made it to The Lodge but didn’t join us on the floor for the first lesson which was a partner lesson even though Sami told him Mary would be his partner. He awkwardly stood by the restroom door that was unlocked but he didn’t check. So he stood there 20 mins to find out it was a restroom with many stalls. Then he joined us for the second lesson which was a line dance that was quite difficult. But he didn’t quit!!! 10pts for John.

John and Sami talked for about 2 hours after lessons getting to know each other. John was overwhelmed by this foreign environment and was mind blown at how fast dancers would flock the floor after hearing the first note of a song. His first impressions of Sami: “her eyes and teeth were notably attractive, she was patient in getting to know him because he was nervous, very impressed by the way she commanded the room for the lessons. I could tell she was an adult.” John thought it was a good test for the first way we met. He had to be out of his comfort zone, in a loud environment and was forced to talk to strangers while Sami was on the floor.

Before John left they scheduled a date for John to make Sami dinner at his house which was just 2 days later than the first meet. *Sami’s idea, because she was busy* John gave Sami a goodbye hi-5 to end the night.

The First Date: a Sunday night. It was a cold evening in January and Sami showed up to John’s house where it was 62 degrees and Sami was freezing the whole time but didn’t share it with John. He made her the bloodiest steak she’s ever eaten and she pretended that it was great. John made chocolate covered strawberries for the first time ever in his life (which he had to call his mom to find out how) and they were delicious.

Sami’s Standouts from this date: I didn’t eat 1/2 the steak so John put it in a Tupperware for the next day and I thought that was funny and felt he was comfortable enough with me to eat my leftovers. He did let me take the remaining strawberries home though! John also was so nervous that he played his guitar for me after dinner and that was giving me second hand embarrassment because what?! He wasn’t bad though. Just made me squirm.

Sami went to NDF vol 1 the following weekend and came back SICK!! But John had bought them tickets to a Blues game for their second date. So Sami braved the Tuesday night game for time with John. She was down and out for over a week and John took her to urgent care. Waited 1 hour with her in the parking lot and another hour without her while she was getting checked out. She had influenza A. 30 points for John. Even though she was sick he would stop by and bring care packages on his way home from work.

The next 10 months the two spent a lot of time getting to know each other, going on trips to Nashville, Ozarks, sporting events, lots of concerts, Thanksgiving with John’s family and Disney World. They went to go look at rings early December.

John finally met the Mabee's in their California entirety for Christmas '25. They liked him but he was too nervous to ask for the blessing on this trip.

Fast forward to March, Sami went to hang out with John after a girls night and shortly discovered that he had indeed bought the ring that day. He isn't a good liar friends. So she made fun of him and threw the challenge at him that there would be a hard challenge for him to plan a proposal on his own and keep it a secret. Which he accepted the challenge. Sami would have to wait 3 long months for John to pop the question. With the help of our Fairy God Mothers, Kelli and Barb, John was able to pull of a great proposal.

The Proposal:

Sami was hired to teach at a private event in March for May 18. The day before John bowed out on going with her for a golf day. Sami forgot she had asked him to attend the private event with her. So she called Kate Nelson to attend the event with her. (This was the exact person John wanted to be with Sami) Other things to add to this story: John had left his Phone in Sami's car to track her, and so that she could not track him. Sami's friend Kolby just so happened to ask her to brunch on this Sunday not in connection to John, but this allowed John to go to her apartment undetected to grab her clothes to change into for the engagement. John told Kate to make Sami late to the event FOR NO REASON. Which made Sami flustered when they arrived. Also, the Sunday before this day John had told Sami to just not talk about the engagement for 7 days. The Friday before, she reminding him he had 2 days left and both of them were occupied by teaching events.

As Sami and Kate arrived to the "35th Anniversary" they were greeted by a lady and a High school Junior who would be photographing the Anniversary party. (This photographer reached out to the venue 2 days before the engagement to get photos for her portfolio. John accepted her services) The photographer asked the ladies to go outside to get the lighting right for the party. Sami was distracted setting up her speaker and microphone for the event. When she went outside she noticed a maintenance guy out on the gazebo but came to realize that he was wearing the same shirt John was wearing that day. Sami took a long walk down an aisle to meet John. She was wondering if she would still be teaching and if the event people were unhappy with him crashing their event with this. Sami said yes. Shocker. and turning back up the aisle was Her parents, John's Parents, John's best man Ethan and a couple others. Sami changed into some other clothes and they had an Engagement shoot. After the shoot Sami was greeted with some of their friends to celebrate with ! 50pts for John for pulling it off with the help of Kelli and Barb.

This is where we will let the story lay as of right now. 8/13/25

We are excited to celebrate with you October 2026.