Hunter is eleven.

Hunter turned eleven which feels about right I guess.  Actually there are probably more days that he feels  older than that to me lately.  One year away from getting the priesthood and being able to go to the temple with us.  That blows me away, I am glad that we still have a full year until then. However this summer I kept thinking how big he's getting. All summer long the kids went to the Y to work with me.  They were always really good but there are not a lot of older kids that go there even in the summer, and so there were many days that poor Hunter was hanging out with little kids.  After a couple weeks we had some older kids start coming that Hunter quickly became friends with, one in particular was Adrianna.   I could tell she liked him right off the bat and soon she was flirting with him and Hunter was not sure always how to take it.  I wasn't always sure how to take it.  One afternoon we sent the older kids upstairs to the teen room and I asked Hunter and a few of the other boys if they wanted to go upstairs. "Nah, no thanks Mom its kinda boring up there" he said.  I started getting busy cleaning up toys when I heard from somewhere behind me him and Adrianna starting up a conversation.  "Hey Hunter, some of the older kids went up to the teen room to hang out, do you wanna go?"  she asked him.   Hunter came over to where I was still cleaning, "Hey Mom, is it okay with you if I go hang out upstairs, there is nothing to do down here."  It hadn't even been five minutes since I just asked him.  "Sure," I said and then watched as a group of them headed out the door and up the stairs. Are you kidding me?  I looked at Abby and Maryann and they were both cracking up.  He had totally changed his mind once she had asked him.  That was when I realized that he had a crush.   By mid summer it was clear they both had a great friendship and also harbored a little crush for each other.  One day she brought a friend to the Y and her friend grabbed Hunter's hat and put it on Adrianna to wear.  They were smiling and giggling and Hunter just kept on playing LEGO's.  Later in the car he asked me, "Mom, why do girls do weird things sometimes like taking your hat?"  It made me smile. Anyways the whole staff and I cracked up watching the two of them all summer.  His birthday morning was the last day they would see each other before school started and she said she was bringing him his favorite candy bar for his birthday.  I took the day off for his birthday and so at first we were just going to skip the Y and head out for the day.  Last minute Hunter asked if him and I could just go by real quick and say bye to her since summer was over.   Since it was his birthday he wanted a root beer Slurpee right after breakfast, so we grabbed one up and headed to the Y for a quick goodbye.  As we pulled up into the parking lot, Adrianna, her mom and sister were walking to their car.  Hunter rolled down his window.  "Bye Adrianna!" he yelled.  She turned smiling, "Where were you I thought you were going to be here today?"  "Oh well, see you on school breaks,  Bye Hunter!"  Hunter grinned back and waved through the window and we pulled around and headed back home.  "Thanks mom" he said and didn't say another word about it.  I can honestly say that this summer I feel like I got a very small glimpse at what is in store for us with this guy in the next five years.  Thoughts of having teenagers still overwhelm me because the world is a hard place to live in right now and being a kid and holding your values is definitely not easy.  Then I look at him and remember what a strong spirit he has.  It is going to be hard out there for him, for all of my kids, but Hunter is such a good kid and I know that he has the ability to bring that out into the world with him.  Watch out world, this guy is gonna bring on the sunshine.