Engaged 33 years and 5 months

On June 27, 1974 Brent & I became engaged. We were both living in Garden Grove, California and were in the same ward, Garden Grove 5th ward. Brent had returned from his mission to Germany April 1, 1974. I had written him all through his mission except for the last 2 months, because he had scared me with one of his letters. He had always been a great friend to me, during our letter writing. I had a boyfriend that was giving me trouble and he always gave me good advice. I was thinking of going up to BYU to school, I was 20 at the time and asked him what he thought. In the letter he sent back, he told me he thought I should stay around until after he got back to see if anything would develop between us and it freaked me out. His mother had told me Brent's greatest asset is his determination and it worried me. I don't know why, I was a flake back then. (no I am not a flake now, just flaky) I made sure I was gone when he got home. I went with some friends up to April General Conference and was gone several days. When I got back he acted more distant (a ploy to lull my feelings!) and he a little while later asked me to go on a date with him to the Ice Capades the next month. Well I saw no harm in that so I said yes. A few weeks passed and he asked me to go see the movie "The Sting" with Robert Redford that week end. So we went. That was our first date. When we went to the Ice Capades he held my hand for the first time and it felt like sparks flew between our hands. So beginning with our first date in April and the end of June, it took us just under 3 months to become engaged and 5 months to get married. But you have to consider we had been in the same ward, just as ward members for 11 years and had written steadily for 2 years. We would have married in August but the Los Angeles Temple was closed the month of August. There you have it. We took this picture in Brent's back yard in front of a gold blanket. His Mom took the photo.