Our family backgrounds were very different and yet we arrived at the same perspective on marriage and parenting.

Clint

My parents grew up within blocks of each other and have been married for 55 years. I grew up believing that love between a husband and wife meant everything from uproarious laughter to hunting and fishing togeth...a sort of really close friendship with kissing. My parents dreamed as a couple and our family dreamed together; that dreaming nature continues to guide me -- dreams of places to go and things to do as a family. As the child of such loving, caring, and supportive parents, I grew into a confident adult and knew I wanted a relationship like theirs -- full of love, friendship, and support. Carolyn and I have created just such a relationship and we continue to take it to new and better levels. I'm excited to share with other couples, and especially other men, how simple it can be to create great happiness in marriage.

Carolyn

I remember standing in the hallway, listening to my mother cry while talking to her own mother. She felt trapped, thinking she had to stay in her marriage because she didn't know how she'd take care of herself or my brother and me. As a small girl, I felt scared. I didn't know how we'd be taken care of and I felt powerless to make her feel better. I knew, standing in that hallway, that what I wanted most in the world was for my parents to stay married--happily married. When I grew up, the choice I made was to find a mate who would be a true life partner. I found him! Now I choose to spend my time helping others realize they too can have the incredible partnership they always imagined.

In our workshops and courses, we bring couples a combination of what has worked for us over the 19 years of our marriage and parenting, as well as the techniques and approaches we've learned from our training with other marriage and family experts. The difference in our approach is that we bring marriage and parenting together, as they are inextricably intertwined--happiness in one area supports happiness in the other.

Qualifications

For the past 18 years Carolyn's passion, volunteer efforts and training, both in the community and throughout her career at Hewlett-Packard, have centered around gender-based topics, families and diversity (race and sexual orientation). Carolyn was one of the co-founders of a women's employee network at HP's Boise facility where she presented gender issues to senior management and brought leading edge speakers to HP and the Boise community. Carolyn has been hired in the Boise community to deliver key note speeches on gender differences that are both humorous and enlightening. She currently travels the United States delivering keynote speeches and training financial institutions on how to sell to women and couples.

In the community, Carolyn taught pre-teen and teen sexuality courses for six years for Planned Parenthood of Idaho, where she worked with kids and parents to communicate around this difficult topic. She and her male co-facilitator received top evaluations, from kids and parents alike. She led a middle school Girl Scout troop and had five Big Brother Big Sister school mentor matches with elementary –aged children. In 2001 Carolyn was awarded the Big Sister of the Year in Idaho. Another way Carolyn has supported families is as a wish granter for Make A Wish of Idaho, something Clint and she teamed up to do together.

Beyond working extensively with children and families in the community, within HP Carolyn was a trained facilitator for The Color of Fear, a one-day intensive racial diversity workshop and Building Bridges, a sexual orientation education program for developed for corporations by Out & Equal. She was also trained to facilitate HP’s Diversity Dialogs program, developed in Boise to enable open communications about sensitive and often taboo diversity topics.

In support of their business, Carolyn and Clint are Becoming a Love & Logic Parent facilitators. They have both completed a trilogy of personal growth training seminars, logging nearly 400 hours of training in a two-year period. As well, Carolyn completed an intensive 90-day personal leadership development program. Carolyn and Clint have also been working directly with the Magical Relationships workshop founders to bring the best of their work to the Family Happiness Workshop.

Carolyn spent 20 years in Fortune 500 companies doing marketing and communications work before becoming a business owner and entrepreneur. She continues to consult in that capacity and offers business and relationship coaching services. She is a past board member for the Idaho Black History Museum, a past Wish Grantor for Make A Wish, a previous Girl Scout Troop Leader for middle school, and a former member of the Junior League of Boise.

Clint is a partner in a law firm and a long-time volunteer for the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program, helping rebuild families after the court has stepped in to intervene.