The Begining Of Our Family

In the early spring of 1982, I was convinced by my friends, Vilare Jensen and Brett McDonald, to go with them to a Singles Ward they had been attending in Sandy, Utah (the Sandy 47th Ward), so I agreed to go with them on one Sunday after noon and as we walked into this building and approached the Chapel doors, there was a gal standing there that immediately caught my attention. Her Cute face and brunette hair and giggles all came alive and I will never forget the blue and white striped dress she wore....I would have talked to her right then and there, but you couldn't get a word in edge wise between the giggles of her and Christie.....all they did was giggle, but I did some research and found her name and where she lived and got to meet her.....Her name was Connie Lynn Lunceford, she was from Bellevue, Washington and was down from there living with her sister Vicki and Brother in-law Rick McDaniel.
I went back to that Ward for Stake conference 2 weeks later, not really giving her too much thought, and as I sat in the Stake Conference, I found that she was part of the program having just been baptised and confirmed a Member, she was asked to bare her testimony and I fell in love! I really felt the spirit and thought she was the sweetest thing I had ever known.....the pursuit was on.....
I became a regular at that Sandy Ward and had my records transferred out there and became active and involved there. Of course I was motivated to do so with my new found affection for Connie. I learned that she was dating another guy and that she worked allot of Sundays doing security for the Nordstroms at Fashion Place Mall, I never cared for the guy, Dean, but it didn't matter what I thought, she did, and that's what I had to change.....lol We became friends and would see each other in passing, and would see each other at various activities or parties and get-together's, but all we did was laugh.....I found that she didn't take much interest in me because she thought I was to young, and then I heard that she and her room-mates were having a party where they each lined up the other with someone.....My friend Brett got invited, and I about died when I didn't get asked....so I lost some steam in my pursuit and moved on to other pastures.....named Gayle Cutler of Draper.....lol Gayle was a really nice gal, very cute and a School Teacher, and I tried everything I could to win her over, like jumped off a 40 foot cliff on the Ward River Trip just to impress her, and actually did win her over, she really liked me and didn't want to loose me, I even gave her a surprise Jack-in-the-Box to catch her attention, but in the end, she didn't feel I was able to give her the things she wanted out of life, she was very educated, and I was still going to school, and so she chose Dr. Dave Jack and they live happily in Sandy, Utah.
Several months had gone by between giving up on Connie and Dating Gayle for a few months and it was about April or May of 1983 when I was no longer dating Gayle and so I started going to parties again and ended up at a party with Connie and her new room-mate Disert, and Connie and I ended up at their kitchen table playing cards and gambling with a bowel of fruit and just being silly and she was laughing so hard and we were having so much fun, I couldn't help but start to fall for her again. Later that night some of us went swimming and she came out and joined us and we continued to have fun, and when we all went back and were heading home, she was in her apartment with DEAN'o, that I just had to leave, as it turned out, she broke up with him shortly after that and we began to spend time together, I would hang out at Nordstroms and give her rides to and from work, and we would go and run errand etc, until one day we were in a lighting store over off 4500 South and State when we actually ended up holding hands, it was a good day......and then in passing she asked me if I would take her to the airport because she didn't have a car and couldn't afford to keep asking her CITY CAB buddy, Lee Morgan, for another free ride, so she asked if I would take her, which of course, I certainly jumped at, and not only did I take her to the airport, I walked her to the terminal and waited with her until her flight left....and I enjoyed every minute of it, then as she was getting on the plane she asked me if I could pick her up when she came back, and again I was thrilled. I think that was the longest 5 days of my life....lol
At the end of the 5 days I arrived at the airport a bit late, so I missed greeting her off the plane, but I did meet her coming up the concourse and we got her bags and headed home where we visiting and catching up on the Trip and stuff and I asked her "so how was it?" and she replied, "it was awful.....I missed you so bad" and I turned my head and said "Ya! Hoo!" and we were off and running, we spent every minute of everyday (that we weren't working) together, this was July of 1983, and by September of 1983 we were engaged with a marriage date of February 11, 1984.
I loved her so much....we spent so much time together that we began to learn things about each other that caused fear and doubts etc. So in January of 1984 I thought we needed a Little more time, this was a very hard thing to do and it about killed me to do it, I hurt her very much and broke her heart. I still wanted to date her, I just thought we needed more time. needless to say I was not very popular with her or her family, her mom had bought the dress, had things engraved, etc. Connie was so hurt and or mad, that she moved on me int he dead of night, and if it hadn't been for the fact that i knew where she worked, i may have never seen her again. We were apart for a few months, dating other people, and talking on the phone, I would bug her at work, but she would not go out with me nor tell me where she lived. I would send her flowers etc. only to have her say thanks and brush me off....lol But I knew that i missed her and didn't want to be without her, so after several months, she finally agreed to let me take her home and we got back together in September of 1984 and had a 6 week engagement and with only 6 weeks to get ready, allot was going to happen. she had 2 bridal showers, one from the friends and girls in the Singles Ward and another one from the relatives on both sides of the family (the Westenskow's and the Jex's), being from Washington state and not having lots of family, only her mom and dad came down for the wedding stuff, her sisters Kathy Haugerty and Jamie Anderson could not make it. And the fact that her mom and dad were not members, made it a little tougher on Connie, because she was "Daddy's Little Girl" and he would not be able to give her away or be in the Temple for the Ceremony, but the her sister Vicky and her Husband would be there, or so we thought, when we announced that we were getting married, Vicky and Rick announced that they were leaving the church. This was very devastating for Connie, she wondered why? The very people that got her so involved in the church and got her baptised, and her only family link in the church, and now they were out, this really hurt her and scared her a little. We talked about just getting married civilly so that her parents could be a bigger part of it, but she thought about it and she chose to go ahead with the Temple Marriage because it was the right thing to do, which I was very proud of her and I knew it was a hard decision. So we then worked some things out so that her dad could giver her way at a ring ceremony that we had prior to the reception. It was very nice, he go to walk her down the isle with people on both sides, Bishop West made a few remarks about marriage and what the rings represented and it was a nice thing and I think it made so that her Mom and Dad felt apart. So we got married on October 19th, 1984, in the Salt Lake (LDS) Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah.
It was a cold and snowy Friday morning, and with the unexpected snow, it was a beautiful day. A very fitting day for a beautiful bride. Connie had a beautiful wedding dress and I could not have felt more blessed than to know that she was going to be my bride. We had to be at the Temple at 7am and Connie had stayed with her parents at their hotel that night, so I had to go there to pick her up and still be at the Temple by 7. It had snowed that night so the roads were covered and very slippery, but it was a beautiful morning and I was very excited ...it was our day.

As we drove to the Temple, we held hands and talked about how excited we were to finally be getting married. the Temple its self is a very beautiful building, built by pioneers in 1847 and completed in 1887, its made of Granite with 6 spiers, it glistened in the snow. As we got there, it was very difficult for Connie, because her parents were not able to join us inside the Temple due to the fact that they were not members of the church and the Temple has special requirements before one can enter, so it was very difficult for her to not have them present, but she did have lots of friends and relatives that were inside in the sealing room that made her feel supported etc.
Being married in the Temple is special because it Seals couples together for "Time and All Eternity" and no just "For Time...Until Death Do You Part", something that was very important to Connie and I, important enough that she would leave her Mom and Dad for a time to go and be sealed with me for Eternity. This sealing was performed by my Uncle Joel M. Jolley who was a Temple Sealer in the Salt Lake Temple at the time. It was great! Surrounded by family and friends in the sealing room, looking into the mirrors on both sides of the room, and seeing the eternal effects of mirrors facing each other, it goes on and on forever. It was a great day....The happiest I had ever been.