2014 Family Photo Slideshow

Highlights of 2014!!

Family Trip in Hawaii

We feel so blessed that all of our children were able to come together for a glorious week in Kauai Hawaii. Gary and I were able to get two 3 bedroom condos at the Marriott, so there was plenty of room for everyone. We hiked, swam, ate and just enjoyed spending time with each other. I love them all so much. It is getting harder and harder to get everyone together at one time. Thank you everyone for making it happen. I love them all so much!

Weekend in Las Vegas

Kate was baptized in Las Vegas by her father Mike, November 1, 2014. (No pictures, oops, but it was a beautiful day.) We had a wonderful weekend together celebrating Halloween and going out on the boat. Thank you Kristi and Mike for being such great hosts and making a memorable weekend for all!

Tanner's Homecoming

We had great fun getting ready and anticipating Tanner's arrival home from his mission in the Philippines. He arrive October 30, 2014. We are so proud of him and his dedication to serve faithfully. We love you Tanner!

Our Day at Pride

Why I marched in the pride parade? (by Linda Pulsipher, written for my cousin Carol's blog)

I’m not sure if words can adequately explain why I was compelled to march this year in the pride parade. As a faithful LDS mother, there are reasons why I haven’t marched up to this point. 1) Its on Sunday, I typically spend the day with my family refraining from activities that could be done on Saturday. 2) Let’s just say I have seen pictures of the parade and knew I probably wouldn’t be comfortable taking my children to it, so why would I go?

That said, this year I was compelled to go, so much so, that I had to convince my daughter that it would be good thing to break the Sabbath and expose ourselves to sites that we weren't used to seeing for a few reasons 1) My wonderful gay son is graduating with a double masters this week. This kid is AMAZING! I want to shout that to the world and celebrate with people that get how wonderful these kids are. In the church, it doesn’t really seem to matter how amazing these kids are, if they are gay, that is somehow bigger than any other accomplishment or incredible divine gift they possess. 2) I want the lgbt community to know that I see them and they are worthy of love, especially God’s love. In the church, I sometimes feel like we are the Priests and Levites that refuse to see the suffering that our doctrine causes in individuals trying to navigate between what their heart is telling them and what their church is telling them. We can do much better! 3) If my son can sit through four hours of conference and choose not to be offended because he loves and respects his Mormon family, I can attend a gay pride parade, because I love and respect my son and want him to know it. 4) Affirmation is a wonderful group doing a great service and I want to show my support for them.

So, how was my first experience at pride? We had a great day! My daughter and son marched with me. It was wonderful to see how happy (and surprised) my son was that we wanted to come and march with him. We met wonderful people that are putting themselves out there to make a difference, heal broken hearts and show love to all people. People cheered for us. There was a wonderful overall feeling of love and inclusion. It was a great bonding experience for our family (even the ones that weren’t there in person were happy to see us all marching together). Our hearts grew a little bigger along with our capacity to love a little more. Would I do it again? Of course, who can argue with a desire and prompting to show love to ALL God’s children?

New Orleans

Gary and I got to travel to New Orleans for Gary's annual AAO convention. I was so excited when I found out the JAZZ festival was the the same week. It was a humorous day, lots of people watching with old hippies reliving their youth. We also got to eat some good food and saw some alligators out on the bayou.

Easter in Las Vegas

Lots of fun spending Easter weekend with Kristi's family in Las Vegas.