Meeting Melody Carr, wife of Fresno State legend David Carr

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- You can probably catch her cruising Millerton Lake with her family, hosting a book club with friends or trying out the latest TikTok trend with her husband, former NFL quarterback and Super Bowl champion, David Carr.

Melody Carr welcomed us into her home in West Bakersfield recently to sit down in her personal library.

"I tried to do kind of like a rainbow theme, but then randomly I have some Christmas books," Melody said while showing off her collection.

Amongst those books, pictures of her family and some of she and David over the years.

She describes herself as a mother, wife and friend.

David and Melody Carr celebrated their 23rd wedding anniversary in March of this year.

The two grew up in Bakersfield.

They went to different high schools, but met at a winter church camp out of town.

"The girls were all over him - immediately upon arrival. So, that kind of turned me off. I was like 'Whatever. Yea, he's cute, but I'm not going to go chase him.' And then, he liked that," Melody said. "And then he was like 'Why is this girl not talking to me?'"

They decided to exchange numbers and started dating.

Melody was a junior in high school. David was a senior and was already committed to play football at Fresno State.

"I knew he played football, but I didn't know he was good," Melody admitted.

Melody initially stayed behind as David left for Fresno. The two talked on the phone for hours to stay in contact.

"Our parents were so mad at us. We had like huge phone bills. So his dad and mom were like 'Ok, guys, what can we do here? How can we fix this?' So we decided getting married was the key to save some money," Melody said.

The two got married in 1999, while still in college.

Just six months later, they got pregnant with their first child, a boy they named Austin.

Melody dropped out of school to work full time as David continued at Fresno State and led the Bulldogs on the football field.

"It was a time when we were broke, you know, college students, trying to survive, but really we have the best memories," Melody said.

In 2002, their lives changed as David entered the NFL. He was selected first overall to the Houston Texans.

"Going from Fresno to Houston was just a huge leap for us," Melody said. "We were really lucky, I think, that David's family moved out with us and so we always had that support."

David played with the Houston Texans for five seasons.

Melody and David had two more sons while David was in the NFL, Tyler and Cooper.

"The boys and I were more of like a unit, where we just hung out a lot by ourselves, we had to learn to be really independent," Melody said.

Melody and the boys stayed behind as David traveled with the team.

They would only travel to away games in California so they could visit family.

They were a family of five for seven years before Melody gave birth to their fourth child, and first girl, Gracie.

David retired from the NFL two years later and was able to spend more time at home with his family.

Then, they were a family of six for seven years.

"I think we thought we were done, and then we were like 'OK, maybe just one more.'" Melody said.

In 2018, Melody gave birth to another little girl, Piper.

Melody and David have become advocates for those with type 1 diabetes.

Their family has a personal connection to it.

"We have five kids. Three of the five have Type 1 diabetes and then David also was diagnosed at like 38 years old. Late in life," She said.

Melody runs a social media account "Raising four Diabetics," chronicling the challenges that come along with it.

She says it has been her faith that has carried her through all the major transitions in her life.

"Really going through all the hard times, just always helped having that faith background," She said. "We just always knew there's something bigger, something greater, that God had a plan for us."

That bigger plan now includes investing in a new school that will be built in Bakersfield, Providence Classical Christian Academy.

"Everything that they're teaching is like how to see the beauty in everything in the world and how God intended it to be," Melody said.

Her four youngest children still live at home and she says they remain her focus.

"It's amazing that we can all just be together and that's our focus right now is just family, faith and keep them grounded and send them off."