A married couple is often asked "How did you meet?" Let me tell you how I met Tracy. I drove to her house, knocked on her door, and she answered the door. I said, I'm Ron, I'm here to take you skiing.

That sounds like a simple story and the beginning of a nice day skiing. It was a very nice day skiing, but it was a little more complicated than that. To be more precise my introduction could have been, I'm Ron, my date Lynn and I are here to take you skiing.

Let me go back in time to give you some background leading up to this day. I was attending BYU studying electrical engineering. I lived in an apartment with five other return missionaries. Stan, one of my roommates, talked to me about our lack of going on dates. We decided that we should fix this problem by going a double date this weekend. Then we decided that one date was not enough, we should go on many dates all with different girls.

Let me take a tangent about what I mean by the word date or dating. A date to me is spending time with a girl to have fun and get to know her. Dating is doing the same type of thing on more than one occasion. It does not mean we are in a serious relationship that may imply exclusivity.

Stan and I did go on multiple dates that weekend. I think it was four dates with four different girls. One on Friday, two on Saturday and one on Sunday.

After that weekend we said, we will never to that again. Most of the girls we hadn't met before and didn't have much in common with. The main objective was to find someone we would like to see again. Well, that didn't happen. I asked one of my dates what year did you graduate from high school? In a high squeaky voice she said, "oh this year." I had been on a 2-year mission and worked for a year before coming to BYU. I was looking for someone that had a little more maturity. Stan and I both decided no more girls for us.

This no more girls thing did not last long. Soon Stan told me about a dance, we both went to it. I was having fun at the dance, but after "the weekend" I was hesitant. I noticed that one of the girls I danced with was wearing a high school ring. It had 1973 on it. She graduated that same year I did. We had something in common. I asked her for her phone number and she gave it to me. Her name is Lynn.

Lynn and I when on a date. We both had fun. I learned that Lynn had taken skiing lessons and enjoyed skiing. I'd grown up skiing and loved the sport. This was perfect, I liked skiing and I would like someone to go with. I asked if she would like to go skiing with me Saturday. She answered with a conditional yes. She said, I need to talk to my friend. So she called her friend. I thought it is strange that she needed to call her friend before excepting a date with me. At the end of her phone call she said, my friend said, you can come skiing with us Saturday.

I was confused. I thought I would be going on a date with Lynn alone. Maybe it would still be a date, but we would be going with the friend and the friend's sister. I thought about backing put, but I wanted to go skiing. I said, sounds good, what time do you want to leave on Saturday.

The more I thought about Saturday the less I liked it. The friend had been taking skiing leason with Lynn so she would know how to ski. The friend's sister had not taken lessons, and this would be her first time skiing. We would be stuck on the beginner's hill all day. Meeting two new girls made me think of the "dating weekend." I was not looking forward to Saturday.

Saturday morning came, I picked up Lynn and helped her with her skies. We drove to the friend's house to get her and her sister. I went to the door to get them and help them with their skies. and knocked. I knocked on the door and Tracy answered. I said, I'm Ron, I'm here to take you skiing. I look at Tracy and thought, to myself, today is not going to be bad at all. All my feelings of dread completely disappeared.

It was different to be spending the day with three girls. All the attention was great, but they were all friends and I would be left out of much of the conversations. We arrived at Sundance ski resort. It was a sunny day and relatively warm, so I left some of my ski gear in the car. Tracy was worried that I would get cold as soon as I got snow on myself. I wasn't planning on falling that day and except for a couple of minor slips I did not fall all day.

The day was fun. Lynn and I got along fine. I was surprised at all the flirting that Tracy did. The girls brought hot chocolate with cups to put it in. They put our names on the cups. Tracy put QT on my cup. I learned that day that Tracy liked to write words or phases in a type of abbreviation code. You decode it my saying the letters. For example, RU would be "are you" or "where are you". QT on my cup was "cutie".

Tracy's sister Sue was just learning to ski and got tired soon so she took some breaks. That left Lynn, Tracy and me. At one point Lynn wanted to rest with Sue, so that left Tracy riding the lift and skiing with me. The day was over and we all had fun.

After that day I was interested in spending more time with Tracy. Lynn and Tracy were best friends and did everything together. From experience, I had learned that dating friends is not a good idea. You will just end up with two girls mad at you and you left alone. I decided I would not ask Tracy out on a date. I didn't want to break up the great friendship Lynn and Tracy had, and I didn't want them both mad at me, and I didn't want to be alone.

I continued to date Lynn which ment I would sometimes see Tracy. Lynn had surgery and I kept her company while recovering. Tracy would also keep her company. Tracy and I talked a lot as Lynn recovered.

After Lynn's recovery, I was at her house one evening. She was going on a trip with her parents and would be gone over the next weekend. Tracy called while I was there. After talking to Tracy for a while, Lynn said Tracy wants to talk to me. Tracy asked what I was going to do while Lynn was gone. I didn't have any plans. Tracy wanted to talk to Lynn. After talking to Lynn, she wanted to talk to me again. Tracy again asked about my plans for the weekend and said that we should do something. What does Lynn think about that? Tracy said, she is okay with it. I said, are you sure? I then said, are you asking me out? She said, yes. I said, If Lynn is alright with it, then I say yes. Much latter I ask Tracy, what did Lynn say on the phone that night. She told me that Lynn asked "what do you want" Tracy said, "I want your boyfriend" Lynn replied "Okay"

I knew that I liked Tracy. Now I knew that she liked me. Tracy and I started to see each other. In fact, I think I saw her that night. Tracy and I kept seeing each other every day from that point on. By the time Lynn returned from her trip, Tracy and I knew we liked, liked each other. Tracy talked to Lynn after she returned and made sure she was okay with her seeing me. As time pasted, Lynn did have a problem with Tracy and me. It wasn't because Lynn missed me, it was because she missed Tracy. Tracy spent so much time with me, she didn't have time for Lynn. Soon Lynn found someone else who started taking up her time. Lynn married this person.

So, that is how I met my wife Tracy. Tracy needed to ask me out to get our dating started. Our dating very quickly turned into more than dating, is turned into an exclusive relationship. This turned into a wedding in the Salt Lake Temple for time and all eternity. It has been a lone time since all of this took place. I still want to be with Tracy each and every day.