Another winning story

This past summer my wife Sandy and I celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary so I must have done something right inspite of this.

I proposed to her on Dec. 23rd, 1976 on the one year anniversary of my return from my LDS mission to South Africa which was a great date because I knew I would not forget it.

Now to back up a bit, I met her on September 9th at a $1 dance at the old Terrace Ball Room. At the time I was dating two very nice young women and I really did not need another girlfriend but there she was standing under a recessed light that formed a cone of light around her and I just knew I had to ask her for a dance. Well one thing lead to another and we danced a few dances, I got her number and the next day (Friday) I called her and asked her to go with me to a mall dance on Saturday of the next week. She said 'yes' and so the date was set.

The next Thursday, the 16th, I joined my friend R.R. (name withheld to protect the innocent) at the weekly $1.00 Thursday Night dance at the Terrace. To my shock and surprise there were the three women I was dating all at the same dance. One with her cousin, one with her roommate and Sandy with her brother. I was in trouble but R.R. had a plan and with him running interference and moving me around I was able to dance several dances with all three and keep them separate never knowing the others were there. So things would be okay. I recall R.R. saying something about any girl dating me must be a real sucker but I did not mind as I was not ready to settle down to one women and get married.

Things, however, took a different turn. Over the next two months I broke up with the other two (one in October and the other just before Thanksgiving and never did they find out about the others) and I started getting serious with Sandy. Unfortunately, she learned, from my 'friends' and some times via a 'pre-emptive strike' by me (including the Terrace Ball Room incident) about what kind of person/player I was/had been. She soon learned what she was getting into and she still fell in love with me. We started to talk about marriage and her going down to BYU and I could NOT let her go down there without a ring (I was going to the U of U at the time) as I did not trust those 'RMs' down there. So I had to propose but I was a struggling student, going to school and working. I did not have much money so I could only afford a promise ring in the shape of a butterfly with a tiny chip of a diamond in it. It seemed so small. So I had to do something and came up with what I thought was a fun and I thought romantic idea to propose.

I created a Christmas Stocking and invited her to my home where my parents had to discretely vanish from sight while we sat by the fire and talked etc. Finally I gave her the stocking and she pulled out the first small items then she pulled out a 'Fizz Pop' sucker (an subconscious warning??) that I had brought home from my mission. Taped to it was a pull top ring from a can of soda. Taped to that ring was a 'ten cent piece' so I got down on my knee there and proposed to her with 'this dime and ring'. She thought it was funny and we laughed and she still said “Yes”! In the bottom of the stocking was the ring box with the promise ring which she truly loved. About that time I let out a 'whoop' letting the house know she had said 'yes' and my family came out and congratulated us and we all laughed about my corny proposal though to this day I am not sure my mother totally approved.

Ten years later I needed to give her something special and by then I was changing careers, we had three children and were paying a mortgage so I found a trophy at a thrift store. On it were the two masks from Greek Theater, the comedy and the tragedy (smiling face and frowning face). On it I placed a typed paper saying

"To Sandy For service above and beyond the call of duty in putting up with Martin in good times and bad during 10 fantastic years of marriage.

With love from, her devoted and oft-times crazy husband and father of their three loving children.

This in lieu of the Nobel Prize."

23 years have passed since then and now we have 5 great adult children and are the grandparents of 2 and we are still going strong and she still (sometimes) laughs (or raises an eyebrow in deep concern) at my still off beat sense of humor..(and no.. I will not disclose what other things I have done over those years.)


The Armstrong Mansion - Salt Lake City, Utah

Another great story

This past summer my wife Sandy and I celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary so I must have done something right in spite of this.

I proposed to her on Dec. 23rd, 1976 on the one year anniversary of my return from my LDS mission to South Africa which was a great date because I knew I would not forget it.

Now to back up a bit, I met her on September 9th at a $1 dance at the old Terrace Ball Room. At the time I was dating two very nice young women and I really did not need another girlfriend but there she was standing under a recessed light that formed a cone of light around her and I just knew I had to ask her for a dance. Well one thing lead to another and we danced a few dances, I got her number and the next day (Friday) I called her and asked her to go with me to a mall dance on Saturday of the next week. She said 'yes' and so the date was set.
The next Thursday, the 16th, I joined my friend R.R. (name withheld to protect the innocent) at the weekly $1.00 Thursday Night dance at the Terrace. To my shock and surprise there were the three women I was dating all at the same dance. One with her cousin, one with her roommate and Sandy with her brother. I was in trouble but R.R. had a plan and with him running interference and moving me around I was able to dance several dances with all three and keep them separate never knowing the others were there. So things would be okay. I recall R.R. saying something about any girl dating me must be a real sucker but I did not mind as I was not ready to settle down to one women and get married.

Things, however, took a different turn. Over the next two months I broke up with the other two (one in October and the other just before Thanksgiving and never did they find out about the others) and I started getting serious with Sandy. Unfortunately, she learned, from my 'friends' and some times via a 'pre-emptive strike' by me (including the Terrace Ball Room incident) about what kind of person/player I was/had been. She soon learned what she was getting into and she still fell in love with me. We started to talk about marriage and her going down to BYU and I could NOT let her go down there without a ring (I was going to the U of U at the time) as I did not trust those 'RMs' down there. So I had to propose but I was a struggling student, going to school and working. I did not have much money so I could only afford a promise ring in the shape of a butterfly with a tiny chip of a diamond in it. It seemed so small. So I had to do something and came up with what I thought was a fun and I thought romantic idea to propose.

I created a Christmas Stocking and invited her to my home where my parents had to discretely vanish from sight while we sat by the fire and talked etc. Finally I gave her the stocking and she pulled out the first small items then she pulled out a 'Fizz Pop' sucker (an subconscious warning??) that I had brought home from my mission. Taped to it was a pull top ring from a can of soda. Taped to that ring was a 'ten cent piece' so I got down on my knee there and proposed to her with 'this dime and ring'. She thought it was funny and we laughed and she still said “Yes”! In the bottom of the stocking was the ring box with the promise ring which she truly loved. About that time I let out a 'whoop' letting the house know she had said 'yes' and my family came out and congratulated us and we all laughed about my corny proposal though to this day I am not sure my mother totally approved.

Ten years later I needed to give her something special and by then I was changing careers, we had three children and were paying a mortgage so I found a trophy at a thrift store. On it were the two masks from Greek Theater, the comedy and the tragedy (smiling face and frowning face). On it I placed a typed paper saying

"To Sandy for service above and beyond the call of duty in putting up with Martin in good times and bad during 10 fantastic years of marriage.

With love from, her devoted and oft times crazy husband and father of their three loving children.


Judy Savage, Innkeeper
The Armstrong Mansion - Salt Lake City, Utah

Contest and Funny Story

Hello from the Mansion in sunny down town Salt Lake City!

Has everyone had a great summer? I hope so because it is almost officially over.
But we are here to relieve your stresses no matter what the season or need.
We have a contest going on right now with KDYL that I would like to open up to all of our friends.

The Mansion is looking for a few funny or romantic stories around the theme of family reunions, anniversaries, honeymoons or proposals. And we will be giving a free night’s stay every week through the month of August and September for the best ones.
They will be posted on our blog – so look for yours.

Our first one is from Tom Reynolds and he has not told his wife that he entered it so you might hear some protest over the Email lines, if that could be possible.

Thank you Tom and don’t forget to tell her that she won a free night’s stay at the Mansion. That might make it a little better for you.

In 1991 my wife and I had been married for 15 years and we had never gone on a honeymoon. In October of 1991, I had to take a medical retirement from my job as a police sergeant because I had scheduled surgery to have my right hip replaced.

In June of 1992, I had mostly recovered from my hip surgery and was down to walking with a cane. We decided to take some of our retirement money and drive to California to have the long awaited honeymoon we had never taken.

When the day arrived for our trip, we arose at 5 o'clock to get a jump start on the morning traffic. Our van did not have air conditioning, so we borrowed a small economy car from my folks which had air conditioning and was more fuel efficient than our van.

I pulled into the local 7-11 and filled the car with gas, then grabbed my cane and headed into the store to pay the clerk. Back then there was no such thing as pay at the pump.

My sweet wife in the mean time was taking pity on me as she watched me limping into the store with my cane and so she decided to drive the car up to the front door, so I did not have to make the long painful walk back to the fuel island.

The problem with this scenario is that my wife is only 5' tall with very short legs and she tried to drive the car from the passenger seat. She was able to push the brake pedal once to put the car in gear, but when it started toward the front closed glass doors of the 7-11, she panicked because she could not reach the brake pedal again and as the front tires made contact with the parking curb which was only a few feet away from the doors, she tried to stop the car by slamming the gear shift lever back into park.

It was too late.

I was standing in front of the cash register paying for the fuel we had just pumped, when the front end of my mother’s car came crashing through the doors spraying glass all over everything including me. My first thought was that another drunk driver had hit the front of the store. You can imagine my surprise when I saw that it was my wife in the driver’s seat of mom's car. Giant tears were beginning to stream down her face, and she had that "what the heck just happened" look on her face. Remember, we were going on our honeymoon, so I just couldn't be mad at her.

Well.... the police came and did a report, and because I worked with them all everyday, I knew they were having a good laugh at my expense. For years, anytime the police officers decided to take a break at the 7-11 they called it "Reynold’s Drive In"!

As a final note to the story, I knew that there was a Circle K at the next intersection by the freeway on ramp, and they sold roses wrapped in cellophane. I pulled into the store to buy her one to let her know how deeply I loved her and that I was so glad she was o.k. I also took the keys in with me. Mom's car sustained no significant damage. My insurance paid $ 2500.00 to have the store front repaired.

This is a true story that I will never forget. (Just the facts ma’am). BTW next month we will celebrate our 34th anniversary.

Tom Reynolds
Clinton, Ut.

Isn’t that a great story!!
I’ll be looking for yours.

Judy Savage, Innkeeper
The Armstrong Mansion - Salt Lake City, Utah