How we met and our first date.

As per Michelle's request I will try to write our love story. I had already decided to post more things like that, so her nudge was just what I needed. This is the first photo of Ken and me together. I don't really like it, but it's all we've got. It was BYU homecoming dance 1968.

I had just arrived at BYU in September 1968. I was rooming with girls I had never met before in Heritage Halls on campus. The first week of school BYU always held orientation dances for the freshmen and anyone else who wanted to attend. I was very enthused about going so I pretty much pushed my roommates to attend them with me. The dances on Tuesday and Wednesday didn't turn out to be all that much fun. The only guys that asked me to dance were guys I knew from my home ward. My roommates had even worse luck and danced with some pretty weird guys. So on Thursday I could only convince one of my roommates to go with me. After all, it hadn't been that great the two previous nights. But, ever the optimist, I felt like it was still worth a try. Some background information is now needed. I had my hair cut really short in a pixie-like haircut. I knew that guys traditionally like long hair on girls, so I decided to go to the dance wearing my fall. ( A fall is like a partial wig that is just hooked in at the top of your head and gave you instant long hair. In the photo above I am wearing it all curled and piled on top of my head .) Not surprisingly, I found that with the long hair I had plenty of dance partners. (Guys are so dumb.) I remember seeing Ken walking across the Wilkinson center ballroom floor, heading strait for me. He was pretty short and quite skinny, so I wasn't that impressed, but he asked me to dance and I said "yes". During that first dance we discovered that I was from the same ward that Ken's mission president was from, so we had plenty to talk about. We danced together the rest of the evening, and after the dance he walked me home. He asked if I would go with him to the dance the following night. So, I was the first girl in my apartment to get a date! I did have a bit of a dilema. Did he like me because I had long hair? Would he not be interested in me if he knew my hair was short? My roommates encouraged me to wear my fall on my date the next night. But, I decided that honesty was the best policy so I wasn't wearing my fall when he came to pick me up. When I came to the door I expected some kind of a reaction, but nothing!! He acted like there was nothing different and we proceeded to walk down the stairs and out the door toward the Wilkinson Center. About halfway there, he very nonchalantly asked me if I'd cut my hair that day. I explained the difference, and he didn't seem to care. We had a great time and he asked me out for a second date. I'll never know if the fall is what got me that first dance and eventually my husband, but at least I found a nice guy who liked me even with short hair.