First Apartment

Nestled in the heart of student land, tucked in a short driveway from a highway, was our first apartment. The sweet, gentle humming of constant traffic could be heard day and night above the noise of our neighbors' bathroom activities. The parking lot that was never plowed after snow (which never melted because it was in the shade) was a joy to slide around on (in the car, or on foot). The refrigerator that had an ice box instead of a freezer, which ice box was so in need of a de-frosting that we could only fit two bags of peas inside, which was fine because that's all we could afford anyway. The apartment without a useful air conditioner, so we sweat, instead of to the oldies, to sleep. Here's a brief tour of how our apartment looked in 2000, just a few months after moving in.


The kitchen. Decorated with sunflowers to belie the dim lighting. Card table and chairs from the stake building before it was remodeled.



The living room. $40 DI couch that we loved and were sad to part with four years later. Poster we bought from the BYU poster sale for $10 (it was a huge expense for a luxury item). Empty entertainment center.



Other side of living room. 13" TV on a metal folding chair. Phone books stacked in the corner. Empty picture frame.



The office. The only wall decorations we had were posters of Austin Powers promoting Virgin Airlines, flags, and a poster that TC made me for our first Valentine's Day together. We were fortunate enough to have a desk, a computer and a printer.



The other side of the office.


These were times when we watered down our Flavor-Aid to make it stretch for longer. We earned exactly enough money for tithing and rent, and somehow miraculously had food to eat. We fought like cats and dogs. We studied together, got our neighbors mad at us together, and stayed together. These were rough times, but we look back fondly (and grateful that we have moved on).