We Dated

Ken was an awesome dater. I know that's not a real word. But you know what it means. He always had a plan. ALWAYS! For our first official date Ken drove clear the "h" up to Rexburg from Idaho Falls to pick me up. He had burned a CD with songs he thought I would like especially for our first date. He called the CD "Buffalo Grunt." That I do not understand. We went to dinner at Yen Ching. Chinese food... mmmm. I heart General Tsao's Chicken for life. Then we walked around the river and talked. Then we went to see "In Good Company." He didn't hold my hand through the WHOLE movie! And I was all, he doesn't like me. I said something wrong. The movie ended... still no hand holding. On the way to the car amidst the throngs of romantic comedy watchers he grabbed my hand and squeezed really hard and smiled this HUGE smile. It was cute. He drove me up to the top of this hill that over looks Idaho Falls and we talked and laughed and sang to songs on the radio. It was a perfect first date.

I still sat next to Zack in Art class and I didn't think it really bothered Ken that I talked to Zack. But one day we were heading to a friends house and Ken said, "Look. Are you dating me or Zack." I said, "Ummm... you. Zack's like 12." "Well you sure talk to HIM a lot." Sometimes jealousy is super hot.

And they kept getting better. Ken would pick me up from school on the nights that he didn't have class and I did. He always had something for me. I little snack, a card, a candy bar, a note, a kiss. Something to let me know he was thinking of me all day.

Ken was always up for anything. Not in the way where you can't get someone to say what they want to do though. More in the he normally had 3 or 4 ideas all of which were fun. We walked a lot. I like to walk. We went to the zoo. We had craft nights. We had movie nights. We went fishing together. We had game night with our families. We went to weddings together. Ken was the perfect boyfriend. Good in any situation. Talkative, funny, charming, and 100% himself.

I was at a college ward in Rexburg and Ken went to a Singles Ward in Idaho Falls. One Sunday he invited me to church with him. I of course said yes. What a mistake! The singles ward was all of 10 people. 7 of which were girls. All of whom had a crush or had had a crush on Ken. Making me very unpopular. In Relief Society one girl even said I wasn't welcome there. Sometimes jealousy is so UN-attractive.

Through our courtship we talked about marriage off and on and our future off and on. But we were so happy where we were. Going the pace we were going. I was totally shocked by what happened next.