After graduating from high school I started attending the Colorado Springs Singles Branch. Yep, one branch for the whole city and the Air Force Academy. It was such a blast. We had great branch with FHEs, activities and dances. This branch was a little different from most branches in the church because at the beginning of each summer, a group of sophomore cadets from the Academy would leave for their missions. Then at the end of the summer, a different group of cadets would return to the Academy to finish their last two years after completing their missions. For a girl, it is a fabulous place to be! Returned missionaries who know how to cook, clean and take orders. So, I had been going to the singles branch for over a year and was the choir director. The Class of 1998 returned missionaries returned to the Academy and my friends and I were excited to get to know these new fellows. To my great pleasure, several of these cadets joined the choir! My friends and I planned several activities with these guys and it was fun seeing them at the dances and such. Brian was one of them. We hadn't known each other long when the Academy hosted Parents' Weekend. His family came out from Idaho for the event and attended the Singles Branch. The choir sang that Sunday and afterwards his mom leaned over and said "April (his sister) and I think you should go for the choir director." He let her know that the choir director was only 19 and much too young for him at the ripe old age of 23! Well, a few weeks went by with more game nights and such and then the dreaded phone call...which Brian would wish to forget. He called me, being peer pressured by his best friend, to see if my friend Sharon was interested in him. She had given him an invitation to the murder-mystery dinner the week before which was held at my house. I was so pleased to inform him that she was indeed NOT interested in him, but hoped we could still do things as a group of friends. And we did...until the fortune cookie. One Friday night, Sharon and I invited some of the guys to hang out. Brian was the only one that could make it, so it was just Sharon, Brian, and me. We decided to each take $1 and buy something at the grocery store for dinner. One of the items was a box of fortune cookies. We divided them up and started reading our fortunes. The shocker came when one of Brian's fortunes read "A new and exciting relationship is coming soon." After that, we didn't do as many things with "the group". 
After 5 months of dating and meeting the families, we were engaged . . . for 15 months until his graduation from the Academy. Is that a long engagement? Yes, but that is what everyone did so we had lots of friends in the same boat. On May 30th, we will have been married 9 fabulous years and look forward to many more. So this is the long version of how we met, but if you ask Brian, he might say, "My mom and sister picked her out."
After 5 months of dating and meeting the families, we were engaged . . . for 15 months until his graduation from the Academy. Is that a long engagement? Yes, but that is what everyone did so we had lots of friends in the same boat. On May 30th, we will have been married 9 fabulous years and look forward to many more. So this is the long version of how we met, but if you ask Brian, he might say, "My mom and sister picked her out."