Mike was born in 1955 in Yuma, Arizona while his father was still in college. They moved around some, but he basically grew up in Sebastopol, California. They lived on a small farm raising all kinds of animals, vegetables and fruits. Mike’s father was a high school teacher, and his mother mostly took care of the children and the home, but she also worked seasonally in the apple canneries in the area. They raised 7 children.
Mike served an LDS mission in Chile from 1974 to 1976, and married Susan Beach shortly after returning. He attended Stanford University, and received a BS in Mechanical Engineering. They had 2 children when he started Stanford, one more was added while at Stanford, and the fourth came just after leaving college. Mike has worked in engineering for all of these years since. In 1987 the family moved to Boise, Idaho. Mike and Susan divorced in 1992.
Bonnie was born in Inglewood California, but grew up in Huntington Beach, California. She spent a lot of time at the beach, but never got a tan. She married Charles Funch and had 2 children, but was soon divorced too. She went to Long Beach State University and got her degree in accounting.
Mike and Bonnie met at a conference for single adults at Brigham Young University while they were both single parents, raising their children alone (with help from parents). It was some kind of miracle that she from California and he from Idaho, could meet in Utah.
Together they raised all six children, which are all grown up now. The children got along very well, for the most part. They are all close to each other now. They all have children of their own.
Mike and Bonnie are very happy being grandma and grandpa to all of those little ones.