How it all began...

Last night we went to dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house. After dinner, Mike, Megan, and I were still at the table chatting with Grandpa and we asked how him and Grandma met. Grandpa looked away and said, "you guys are asking for stories that I'm not supposed to tell." Grandma noticed his reaction and asked what was going on. He told her that we wanted to know how they met and she said, "Oh, don't tell that story. You always embellish it and I can't hear well enough to defend myself." She tried to distract us with other stories, but we kept with it and eventually we got most of the story out of Grandpa. So...I hope I got the details right. If not, hopefully, Grandpa will correct me. And this way, Grandma will know that Grandpa didn't give away too much, because he kept telling us "I don't remember that part." As we all know, Grandpa remembers everything. Here's how it goes as far as I remember...

Grandma was called on a mission to Louisville, Kentucky. She was engaged at the time, but according to Grandpa, her stake president didn't like the guy, so he sent her on a mission. Grandpa was in the Navy at the time (it was near the end of WWII) and going to dental school in Louisville. The mission president asked him if he would pick up all of the new missionaries from the train station and bring them to the mission home. Grandma was one of the new missionaries and she was wearing a red dress. Grandpa says he remembers what she was wearing because she looked so beautiful, but Grandma says that he never lets her forget the mistake. In her mission, you weren't allowed to wear red, but she was new and didn't know. And interesting fact that Grandma told us was that back then, they still sent men who were married on missions. On of the Elders arriving with her was married and had a 9 month old baby at home. The church was calling a lot of boys on missions right when they got home from the war.

Grandpa said he noticed her every week and also noticed her engagement ring. One week, she wasn't wearing it. Grandpa said he leaned forward at church and asked where her ring was. "At the jewelers" was all she said and then turned back around. The next week she still didn't have her ring. Grandpa asked again, "where's the ring." She said it was still at the jewelers. He asked why and she told him it was being cleaned. The ring never returned and Grandpa started hearing rumors of a "Dear John" letter and got his hopes up.

Grandma said that all of the sister missionaries avoided Grandpa because he would call them at 10:00 p.m. on Saturday night and whoever answered the phone, he would ask them to do the Sunday School lesson for 10:00 a.m. the next morning. She said they all dreaded when "Johnny" would call. He liked to pick on the missionaries.

At some point, Grandma was transferred to West Virginia. Grandpa decided to write her a letter. He remembers the address of where he wrote the letter to but mysteriously can't remember what he wrote. He said that Grandma was the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen but denied telling her that in the letter. Two days later he already received his response from her. He claims he can't remember what she said. Mike and I don't believe him. They continued to write until she was transferred back to Louisville, Kentucky.

Once Grandma was back, they got to know each other a little better. Grandpa would give the missionaries a ride to activities and they ended up going on a hayride together (with the whole branch :) ). The mission president pulled Grandpa aside and asked him if he was interested in any of the girls around and Grandpa said, "what girls." The mission president said that he noticed that Grandpa had his eye on "Sister Dalton." The mission president told Grandpa that Grandma was a "symphony of grace" and encouraged him to pursue her. So, Grandpa gave her his pin.

Grandma was transferred back to West Virginia for the rest of her mission, and when she was released on September 14 (I hope I have the date right), she was released to Grandpa's care. He asked her to marry him and together they went back to Tooele so Grandma could report her mission. On November 26, they were married in the Salt Lake Temple.

When Grandpa told us the name of the person who she reported her mission to, Grandma swatted at him and said, "You've been reading my journal! There's no way you would have remembered that if you hadn't been reading my journal!!!" It was so funny!

We all agreed that it was one of our favorite dinners at Grandma and Grandpa's. We laughed so hard and heard some new stories. My kids loved it too. Bridger ate most of Grandma's jello, and Saxon devoured the pork. They played and played and cried when it was time to go. Grandma gave them treats and Grandpa gave Saxon $5 for McDonald's. Saxon woke up this morning asking if we could go back again this morning.

Another funny Saxon story: Saxon woke up a few days ago and sat straight up in bed and said, "Mom! Call Grandpa! We have to call Grandpa Sonnenberg and tell him that I'm goin' on a mission. We have to tell that to Grandpa Sonnenberg."

Thanks for inviting us over! We had so much fun and we love you guys! :)