Gary Graduates from Loyola Dental School June 1989

Frenchie with Linda, Gary and baby Amy

Steve McNutt, Gary and Les Wardell

Marilyn with Gary and Linda and baby Amy

Congratulations Gary!

Amy Beth born May 9, 1989

Amy Beth was born in Chicago at Loyola Hospital on May 9, 1989. Since it was a teaching hospital, there were several interns attending us. I remember Gary and I watching Top Gun while we waited. Apparently the attending Dr. wasn't very happy with the attending antheschia Dr., because I had so much epidural that I couldn't tell when I was having contractions and I couldn't even feel if I was pushing. I however, loved it, Amy was my most pain free baby. It was a smooth delivery.

Christmas 1987

Linda, Craig, Gary and Kristi Pulsipher

Hardy Family Christmas Picture

John and Megan Hardy

Gary, Linda, Kristi and Craig Pulsipher

Richard and Janet Hardy

Mark, Maria, Michael and Matthew Valko

James Hardy

Family Picture 1987

Gary, Craig, Linda and Kristi Pulsipher

Journal Entry June 7, 1987

Gary was accepted to Loyola Dental School in Forest Park, Illinois. We were very fortunate to find a “2 flat” for rent at $275. This house is 80 years old, big and we like it. Gary will be starting his junior year now; he is just starting to work on patients. Gary has done very well in school. He has a 3.86 average and is thinking about specializing in ortho or perio. Neither of us is working and relies mostly on loans and parents for money. It can be overwhelming to think about it, but right now we feel that I need to be home with the children. Next year Gary will have more time home in the evenings and I will have to look for an evening job. We really enjoy the ward and our friends here. The Rhodes live across the street. I enjoy Sheri’s company; it’s nice to have a friend right across the street. They have 2 daughters, Jessica is a year older that Kristi. Kristi enjoys them so much. Gary goes to school with Les Wardell. His family is in the ward also. They have five kids. I enjoy his wife Joan and they also have a girl Debbie, Kristi’s age. They play together often. We enjoy dong things with them as a family. There are many other couples that we enjoy in the ward. It’s nice to have friends that are ‘ours’ together, rather than ‘Gary’s friends’ and ‘my friends’. The weather is hard to get used to here. It’s very cold in the winter and very humid in the summer, pretty tough to get used to coming from sunny California. Kristi is 31/2 now and such a joy, so happy and energetic. She loves to be with her friends playing, laughing, and giggling. She talks very well and loves to have books read to her. Kristi has been taking tumbling classes and loves to show off to mom and dad making up new stunts.

Craig Andrew was born September 11, 1986. He was born in California, because we were home for the summer. Gary had to be back to school September 3, so he wasn’t there for the birth. My mother was with me and my father gave me a father’s blessing before we left for the hospital. Craig was born at a healthy 8 lb. 13 oz. Craig is way ahead of himself, he is 9 months old and walking very well. His 7-8^th incisors are coming in too. Craig’s first 7 months were not very content, he had to be nursed every 2-3 hours and this was very warring on a mother. It took quite a few nights of letting him (and mother) cry it out before he started sleeping through the night. By 7 months he was weaned totally to a bottle and sleeping through the nights. He is very content now. He loves to play with Kristi and by himself. He loves to eat (everything). Some ladies from the ward call him ‘super baby’ because he is such a bruiser, happy go lucky boy.

Yesterday Craig fell down the stairs in our basement in his walker. It gave us quite a scare. Neither Gary nor I saw it. I heard the walker go over the first step and then heard nothing until it hit the bottom and fell forward on the concrete. It was as if he had been carried over the stairs. I am feeling so very blessed and thankful for a loving father in heaven that has bless our family and helped Craig down the stairs. He managed to come out of it without a singe scrape, bump or bruise. When we live righteously, the Lord blesses us. I felt so strongly about this that I bore my testimony is sacrament meeting (the first time). The spirit was so strong, I couldn’t push it aside.

Craig Andrew born September 11, 1986

We were fortunate to be able to spend our summer in San Diego. However, since I was 8 1/2 months pregnant, when it was time for Gary to go back to Chicago for school I stayed behind to have the baby with Dr. (Dr. Livingston) and my mom attended as well. Therefore, Gary was not present for the birth, it went smoothly. My father gave me a blessing before we left and my mother went in the delivery room with me. I remember having a terrible still neck afterwards, I guess I should have had my mom behind me holding up my neck when I was pushing. We flex back to Chicago shortly after Craig was born.

Move to Chicago Fall 1985

Gary got accepted to Loyola University for Dental school, so we moved our little family to Forest Park, Illinois in the fall of 1985. We rented our small home from a man named  Mr. Weiderman. Our rent was $345 a month.

Family 1984

Linda, Kristi Marie and Gary Pulsipher

Kristi Marie born December 23, 1983

Kristi was about 3 weeks late when she finally arrived. Actually, I probably had our due date wrong and they didn't do ultrsounds for no reason, so we just waited. I was having contractions when I went in for my Doctor's appointment and the Dr. (Dr. Livingston) decided we should go to the hospital and break the water to get things started. He had tickets to the BYU football game that night, and I really think he wanted to get things going so he wouldn't miss it (but he did anyway). After a about eight hours of contractions, epidural, a suction to her head with a chain attached to pull her out, and a few nurses bearing down on my stomach to help push her out. She arrived safe and sound, the most beautiful baby in the nursery! (The nurses told me so.)

Our Wedding Day

Recorded from the personal Journal of Linda Sue Pulsipher dated August 15, 1982

Gary and Linda were married on August 7, 1982. We had planned to take our endowments out on Friday afternoon, and Linda would go through for the first time. On Friday we left at about 1:00 hoping to be there by 3:45-4:00. Gary and I took HW 5 the whole way instead of turning off on HW 405. When we finally realized we were in the wrong place at about 3:30, some men told us it would take a good 45 minutes to an hour to get where we were going. We wouldn’t make it. Anyway, when we got on the right road, time was getting short and we were getting pretty worried but we made it there by 4:00. I had to be there by 4:15 to go through for the first time, but the others didn’t need to be there until 6:00. When we (my mother and I) first got there to register they made feel really bad that Gary wasn’t with me, like I was missing out on something really neat. I still don’t know what they were talking about. I didn’t miss out an anything. The temple was a good experience. I was calm and everything went really smoothly. We stayed at the temple apartments that night. It was planned for both families to go out to dinner together, but we took 2 cars and barely made it out of the parking lot before we were separated, so I ate with Gary and his mom and dad, while my mom and dad and grandma ate somewhere else. Saturday morning, Gary and his folks went to an early morning session, while my family and I prepared our selves for the wedding. We had a sealing room reserved for 10:00. I didn’t wear by wedding dress in the temple, but I am glad I didn’t, it just doesn’t seem appropriate for the temple. President Knudson married us, and we had a few friends there, Matt, Rita, Gary’s bishop and a couple from his ward. It was small, but it couldn’t have turned out better. Gary and I had the opportunity before we were sealed to do some work for the dead, sealing children to parents. It was pretty neat and kind of calmed my nerves a little bit. After the wedding ceremony, Gary and I changed into our tux and wedding gown and came through the back door of the temple for about an hour of pictures. Then, both families, grandma and Matt all went out to lunch. It was really nice and relaxing. We made it back to San Diego at about 4:30; we had to be at the reception by 6:00 for more pictures. Gary and I had just enough time to relax a little and get ready for the reception. The line formed at 7:00 and we had people straight for two hours. I couldn’t believe it. The cake was beautiful and the food was good. The line looked great. Everything went so smooth and perfect we couldn’t believe it. The only thing that went wrong is that we found out the address of the institute on the invitations was wrong. Oh well!

The Honeymoon: That night my dad paid for our room at the Little American Westgate. We stayed in room 1294. It was really nice. The next day we had Kirk, Lis and Mike come pick up our car and take us to the airport. We flew to Las Vegas and had a limousine van escort us to the Dunes. When we got there they told us they didn’t have any rooms due to a cancelled flight and to come back in an hour. A lot of people were being sent to the Sands and being put in studios. We were getting pretty mad and worried, but everything worked out. They put us in a corner room in the new tower, room #3801. It was really nice, nicer that the Westgate that cost 4 times as much. While we were there, we mostly ate, saw a movie at the MGM, visited nearby hotels, went to the Omnimax and went to the pool. We gambled a little, won and lost and came up about $5 short. We came home Tuesday and both families came over for ice cream and to open presents, over 100! Wow!