Our first apartment. Where it all began.

Our very first home was an apartment near downtown Sacramento. It was only a few blocks from Joanne and Ted and my folks. It was an upstairs apartment and everything was pretty small except the bathroom. We lived there about a year. Jay was about 3 months old when we moved the first time.

We loved this apartment. When we lived there Larry was the Priest Quorum advisor. I think I taught the 12 yr olds in Sunday School. Since Larry was the advisor to a bunch of boys who were getting ready to be missionaries he spent a lot of time with them. We had a ping pong table in our little front room. We always had one or two priests over. The table took so much room that you could just walk around it between the furniture. When you served on one side of the table you were nearly standing in the kitchen and when you served on the opposite end you were nearly in the bedroom.

We had a dark room in the bathroom. We were really into copying genealogy pictures for people in the stake. We also copied a couple of books for Larry's genealogy. We did all our own developing. We had a pretty good camera. We enjoyed it for many years.

Outside our kitchen on a little porch high above the ground we had a close line that reeled out from the porch. As you hung the clothes you would push the line out on a reel and then pin the next item, and push it out again, until the line was full. Of course only rich people had dryers. And we were not rich.

When we married Larry had a job selling shoes in Karls Shoe Store. We soon figured out that we couldn't pay our $50 rent and eat on what he made. He canvased a few stores in the area (we had no car) and found a store that hired him to draft rooms of furniture so they could see how they fit into offices etc. He just made up the job and talked them into hiring him to do it. That still didn't pay enough but it was a little better. I worked in a nursery school until I got pregnant and then I had to quit because of the danger of my getting a contagious desease while I was expecting. Remember this was in the days before vacinations for such illnesses as Measles, Mumps, diptheria, etc.

The whole time we lived there we had to take the bus or walk where ever we went. I was pregnant for most of the time we lived there. We loved our ward and I had many wonderful mentors who helped me learn to cook and sew. I learned to bake bread while living in this apartment. I will always be grateful for that time and remember it with fondness.