Today I pay tribute to Claudia, my lovely bride of 29 years. Claudia is a gracious lady, loving wife, eternal companion, gentle mother to our seven children and my best friend. I clearly married up in this world!

We are celebrating our wedding anniversary today in beautiful Sandy, Utah, where we are attending the wedding of a nephew.

We were married in the Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on August 6, 1976. Our first date was the previous Halloween, when we attended the opera Falstaff at Brigham Young University. From that wonderful start, life has become better each year.