Spencer went to Yosemite Park for 9 days with the Young Men in our ward. He is in heaven with his calling! He absolutely loves working with the Young Men, and he absolutely loves camping. How could life get any better? Anyway, here are some pictures of his experiences. He said it was gorgeous there, but not as gorgeous as the desert!

Cale got a nice haircut from Spencer a couple of days ago. I usually just put the 1/2 inch guard on the razor and buzz Cale's hair, but Spencer was nice and cut it with scissors. Anyway, Cale came into the kitchen yesterday and there a big chunk of hair missing on his forehead. I said, "Cale, did you cut your hair?" (all stern-like). And he just looked at me with the most guilty face and said, "mom, you know." Anyway, for his consequence, I took away his scissors, and asked him if he would ever cut his hair again. He is becoming a real smart alec, so he said, "Mom, I can do whatever I want." Well, this comment upset me greatly, so I decided that that consequence wasn't enough, so I told him we had to buzz his hair down to the length that he cut it. He HATES his hair short, so this was a good consequence, hopefully. Carli really likes his hair, but if anyone asks him why his hair is so short, he just ignores them, and Carli pipes in and tells them very eagerly!

From the 97% to the 2%

Well, Danielle just turned one last week. She enjoyed whole milk (along with the rest of the family) until she was plagued with diarrhea. We backed off of the cow's milk a little until her digestive system could settle down. She is now feeling great and enjoying the freedom of eating all foods. I took her to the doctor for her 1 year check-up, and she only weighs 16 lbs! She is in the 2%. Considering that she was 10 lbs and in the 97% when she was born, she could probably win on Biggest Loser for losing the highest percentage of fat in a year. Anyway, she eats like a horse, so I guess she's just going to be small, like my other kids. She'll probably have to sit backwards in the car until she's two! (Sigh) I thought for sure she was going to make me proud and get the HUNT genes and grow big and tall. Oh well. Maybe our next baby....

Spencer also had a birthday-the big 30!!! He told me turning 30 didn't affect him at all, but I found him crying in our bedroom. Poor thing. It must be hard being so old. The gray hairs doubled today, and he told me he needs glasses now. What next? Anyway, we did kind of a low-key celebration. Spencer doesn't like a lot of attention, so the dancing girls were out. We just went running in the morning (just to make sure he could still do it!), and then he did yard work while I went to a baby shower. And then he did more yard work (he was trying to forget how old he was by being busy) while I got ready for the BBQ. Then Karen and her girls came over for the BBQ and pool party. It was kind of cold though. I think it was only 95 degrees today, so it wasn't very pleasant to swim. And then we had cake and ice cream (homemade carrot cake with homemade blue frosting and only 22 candles-he's so old I didn't have enough!), and then presents. Then we went to Tempe Town lake and roller bladed while Cale rode his bike and Carli rode the razor, and Danielle chilled in the stroller. It was really fun. Lots of people were out because of the great weather. Anyway, happy birthday Spencer and Danielle! We love both of you!!!

New House

Well, we've finally bought a home. After a year of looking, and 3 houses under contract, including short sales and foreclosures, we finally found the perfect home for us! It's about 30 years old in a neighborhood that has lakes, parks, swimming pools, and a golf course. It's close to freeways, libraries, the temple, hospitals, shopping, the lightrail, etc. The house has a lot of updating and work to do, but that just makes Spencer drool in excitement. He loves having projects every night. The house has plenty of room and a lot of potential. It's so nice to have a backyard and a garage! I feel so old to have my own house! Here are a few pictures!

We just moved into our new house and we have a cinderblock wall with a fig tree right next to it. It is a really great climbing tree the the kids absolutely love. One day, they were climbing in the tree and I was cooking dinner. I heard Carli screaming my name, so I ran outside and I could hear Cale crying but I couldn't see him. Carli was standing on the wall and said, "Mom, Cale fell off the wall into the neighbor's yard!". As I ran around to their yard, I was imagining what he had fallen on: cactus, cement, a pool, a mean and vicious dog, a rose bush. I just didn't know. I opened there gate to find Cale trying to climb back over the wall. Well, at least I knew he was okay. And he had fallen onto grass, so that was a relief. I told them it's probably not a good idea to climb on the wall anymore. They heartily agreed and we quietly exited our neighbor's yard.

Mountain Man

So, Spencer is the leader of the 14-15 year-old boys in our ward. In Mesa, there is something called the Mountain Man campout, where all the teachers in all of Mesa go up into the mountains and do all sorts of Mountain man stuff. Like, skinning a coyote, making arrows and shooting them, rifle shooting, tomahawk throwing, etc. The leaders were encouraged to grow a beard, so Spencer started growing his beard at Christmas and let it grow for 3 months. It was disgusting, to say the least! He would often have food in his beard and it was so long that it was curling. I felt like every time we met someone, I needed to put a disclaimer on his beard and apologize for his out of control facial hair. Anyway, I didn't like it, but he really enjoyed growing it, especially because then he could trim it in all sorts of different ways when he was done with Mountain man. Here are a few of the styles he tried.
Right when he got home-full beard


He now has a hair cut as well
Completely shaved! My favorite is when he has a little bit of scruff though. The hard working man has always looked sexy to me!