How it all got started....

It was a wintery cold night. So cold that one could hear the ice of near by Bear Lake break and freeze again. The ground of was white,and snow covered even as the night was clear with the bright, shining stars that a dark mountain sky makes beautiful. The young adults of the Pioneer region had gathered for their first "winter retreat" at this remote summer resort. I was the first regional president. The young adult program was relatively new and a group of us across the valley were organizing the single young people (18-25) in new and interesting ways. In fact my good friend, Ted Hanson, was president of another region of three stakes across town. We organized parties, dances, service projects etc and retreats.
Any way tonight was the big dance with live band and all. The dance floor was crowded even though the group wasn't that large. I was dating the regional secretary, Cindy Metcalf, but we did not publish our relationship as she was the main reason most of the guys were participating. As the dance was warming up and everyone was getting down I noticed a vibrant shining new smile across the room. As the president I made it a point to know everyone, at least all the girls. And this beauty was definitely new and not on the list... The new dance in that day was something called the bump, named after the way the midsection of the torso "bumped" into the partners corresponding hip... of course in time with the beat. As I made my way around the dance floor that night I learned that the pretty new girl was in fact crashing the party as a surprise and at the invitation of one of our young men, Thayne Gooch. Thayne was a friend from South, a year after me, but had spent a lot of his social time socializing across the valley and we had not seen him at our events. He had invited this "friend" to our retreat. She learned upon surprising him there he had already met Cindy and they had hit it off. A little upset that her "friend" had discovered a new friend she was making the best of being the cutest girl in the room. About this time I took the opportunity to meet her and make her welcome. We danced a few dances and talked young adults, (she was secretary in the Millcreek Stake young adults group, the hottest and most active group in town). Her name was Becky Chalmers.
Fast forward 2 or 3 weeks and we had all returned to student life, work and the routine when a friend from the U offered to line up Ted Hanson and I with some friends of the girl he as dating. When he mentioned Becky Chalmers, I quickly you don't need to line us up, I know her. At Joe Osborns encouragement I called Becky to invite her out. Finally I was able to get on her busy calendar and invited her to a fireside to hear President Hinckley, then 1st counselor in 1st Presidency speak. I remember noting to Becky as we walked into the chapel on 1st north a 1st west ..."this ought to be interesting". As we walked in together the group from our region recognized Becky as the girl that came to surprise Thayne and now she was on a date with Howard. It really got more interesting when Thayne and Cindy came in together as we recognized they were really dating more steadily etc. They sat behind us!
I was able to secure a second date and really launch our love affair when I "bet" Becky that if I could ask a question that would "get a laugh"she would have to take me skiing. President Hinckley had begged off giving a sermon and invited us to ask questions. (How often does one get to sit with the Lord's prophets and ask them questions. Such was our life growing up in SLC) When my turn came I stood and noted "President Hinckley, since this is somewhat of a romantic group... would you tell us how you met Sister Hinckley?" Need I say more... it got more of a laugh than one would expect. I won the bet we went skiing and well that's another story!