The Ideal Man

How many of us were asked at some point during our schooling, be it public, private, or spiritual, to make a list of attributes of our ‘ideal man’ (or woman). I know I had the assignment multiple times. It seems like the moral of the exercise was that your list might have things that ‘would be nice to have’, but you really should narrow it down to things that were essential to have a successful, loving relationship. Basically, a person was missing the point if their top priorities in a companion were things like good hair, good fashion sense, hot body, and other seemingly shallow desires. The real important things were things like sharing life goals, making each other laugh, being close to God (if that’s important to you), etc. So I kind of had the impression, from these list-making exercises that you shouldn’t count on getting everything you wanted on that list. Imagine my surprise when, during the course of dating my fiancé, I realized that not only did he have the essential things, he also had the ‘inconsequential’ things, plus a bunch of other bonuses I didn’t even think were possible to find in one man. I really didn’t think such a man existed! For example, it’s strange, but for some reason when I was younger I always imagined myself with someone very Italian-looking. You know, tall, dark, thick dark hair, chiseled features. I couldn’t really imagine being with someone who actually WAS Italian, just someone with that look. Oddly enough, I never dated anyone with that look. Until Greg came along. Physically, this guy was the picture I had always had in my mind of who I would be with, so I was naturally interested in what else he had to offer. Amazingly, he had everything to offer me. We had the same interests, he made me laugh, I could go on and on, and probably will at some other time and place, so I restrain myself here. Another silly example: When Disney’s Tarzan (the movie) was released in theatres I was very excited to see it. I watched it at the Villa theatre in Salt Lake City, and I was enchanted. Not just with the musical score, the cute adaptation, the wit of Minnie Driver’s ‘Jane’, but with Tarzan himself. Seriously, the dude is a cartoon, but I was really getting into this whole idea of finding my very own Tarzan. It dawned on me the other day, “I did!”. Now, perhaps the most obvious connection that people have made with Greg’s ‘look’ is that of the most amazing human to walk the earth: Jesus Christ. Come on, people. It’s undeniable.So, I like to think that somehow, I found the perfect cross between Tarzan: “King of Apes”, and Jesus Christ: “King of Kings”. Is that blasphemous? I’m not trying to be, I just feel like the luckiest girl on the face of the planet to be marrying the man who is the surprising combination of all the men I think are perfect. I love you, Greg!

We Should Be Models

A few days ago Talese and I walked into a small store near her house and were greeted by the shopkeep's verbal astonishment that such a beautiful couple would be found walking through the door of her small establishment as opposed to being on the cover of her favorite magazine, modeling the finest fashions and styles of the day. I too was similarly flummoxed. Talese, however, mused that it might be more likely she was merely trying to flatter us into a purchase. I still do not see even the slightest possibility that might be true.
The experience did get me pondering, though, on how a couple of small town kids like us could ascend to such lofty heights of style, wit, and sophistication.
To be honest with you, our large and faithful throng of avid readers, I don't know.
But perhaps it has something to do with the myriad opportunities we have living in a mecca of culture and progressive cosmopolitan ideals. As Talese has recently documented, we have been spotted by the paparazzi recently at such high-brow locations and events as Lagoon, the sheepdog competition/festival, the Utah State Fair, the Salt Lake County Fair and Demolition Derby, and Dana's hi-tech basement where we play Wii for hours and hours on end.
I guess with activities such as these, it should be no wonder to anyone why we choose to wander the quaint streets and shops of suburban Utah rather than spending tedious hours being photographed for publications of the latest vogue.

for fun

Greg and Talese are also trying to have some fun. This is what we have been doing lately.

Utah State Fair! A yearly tradition, no? Well, perhaps more of a decennary tradition for some. The best part of visiting the fair was this testimony-building story: Friday afternoon on September 14th, groups of ominous clouds were gathering in the sky. Certain parts of the valley were receiving masses of rain. After finding a rather terrific parking spot on the street, Greg and Talese began walking to the fair entrance, and found themselves facing a mass of black clouds spewing lightning bolts. It seemed those same clouds were headed toward the fair. "Should we go?" asked Talese, "It costs, like, 8 bucks." "Excuse me," a little lady shouted from her car window while waiting for us at the crosswalk, "are you going to the fair?" "Why yes, we are", replied Greg. "Here, take these" she added as she fished out two complimentary tickets to the Utah State Fair from her wallet. What an angel.

Talese got to see baby animals, some of her favorite things in the whole world, and also see how adult animals get inspired to make those baby animals--animal print lingerie:That's hot.

And who could forget the Salt Lake County Fair? Certainly not anyone that is a fan of a good old Demolition Derby! Thanks to my friend Ryan who organized that gathering. Coincidentally, this fair was also serenaded by claps of thunder and flashes of lightning, yet no rain. We enjoyed the cooler weather, the 'no guts, no glory' attitude of the drivers, and the snowcones.

for a living

Greg and Talese are trying to make some money. This is what we are doing right now.

Greg is a new lawyer. He graduated from BYU law school in May of 2006. He got his first job during the summer of 2006 working with a lawyer in St. George doing corporate litigation. This lawyer was closing down his practice, so in December of 2006 Greg moved back to Pleasant Grove to look for a new job and study for the bar. While looking for another law job, he started working for Installpro (satellite dish installation) in their warehouse. He took the bar in February, 2007. In April, 2007 we were happy to hear that he passed! Here he is at a 'happy birthday/congratulations on passing the bar' party with friends. This is obviously before he lost the "Jesus look" for job interviews. And here is Greg with his mother, who is mostly beaming with pride that her son finally cut his hair, shaved his beard, and put on a suit. But also mostly, she is proud that he was just sworn in by the Utah bar as a lawyer. Now Greg is working for a small family law firm in Orem, and still working mornings at Installpro in the warehouse. Yes, he is working 11-12 hour days, plus another 3 hours at the gym, and spare time on Saturdays helping his parents prepare their house to sell. The man is a work horse. And he has the body to prove it.

Talese just started her sixth year at East High School as the Community Education Manager. A random and confusing title, indeed. Basically, she administrates over activities that take place during out of school hours. At East High, specifically, she runs open gym during lunch for the students, she runs the make-up credit program after school for students that have failed classes, and in the evenings she runs enrichment classes for adults like pottery, auto body, and Italian. Here she is with two of her favorite students she saw grow from Freshman to graduation. Talese also dances professionally when she can. She spent 7 1/2 months in 2006 dancing on the "Norwegian Sun" cruise ship in their production shows. Here she is admiring part of the set for their Latin production show "Que Noche". This year, she will be dancing with the Radio City Rockettes in Nashville for the holiday season. Many people don't know that the Radio City Rockettes have expanded to perform in many other cities across the U.S. They have! This year is the 75th anniversary of the Rockettes, and Talese was able to participate in a photo shoot for a soon-to-be-published coffee table book about The Rockettes for this anniversary year. She went to NYC in August and got to pose for cameras in three of their vintage costumes. Here is the 'snowflake' costume:

Hunt & Peterson: A History

It all started with this little lady named Molly Hyer.

This is a picture of Molly and Talese at Molly's June 2007 wedding, but believe it or not, Molly and I met when she moved to Utah during the dark ages, aka middle school (Albion Middle School to be more precise). Though Molly spent her time playing sports while I was in dance class, she was in the same ward as my dancing friend, Alyssa Dial, so we maintained contact despite our different past times. She always did crack me up. After a separation during high school and college, we reunited on the treadmills at Lifestyles 2000 on Van Winkle Blvd in 2003. I needed a new hair stylist, Molly happened to be one, plus she always did crack me up. In March of 2005, Molly moved in with me and my roommate, Sarah Lovett.
Enter: Marcus Patterson

Marcus Patterson (pictured above celebrating his 31st birthday in August 2007) met Molly Hyer at BYU while visiting his sister Julia, who happened to be Molly's roommate. As Marcus is known to do, he spent a lot of time hanging out at their place, so Molly and Marcus became friends. In January of 2005, Marcus (now working at Grand Targhee) paid a weekend visit to Molly (now living with Talese in Salt Lake City), who brought along Talese. Both Talese and Marcus were recently divorced, so they found a lot to talk about and a beautiful friendship was formed. In May, Marcus moved back to Provo, and spent most nights on the couch in his friends' condo. A condo that also happened to house:
Gregory Hunt.

Marcus and Greg hit it off quickly, and when Marcus admitted to Greg that he indeed had a "man crush" on Greg, another beautiful friendship was formed. In August of 2005, Marcus phoned Talese to invite her and her friends "80's dancing" with his Provo crowd (Greg included) at Area 51 in Salt Lake City. And that night, Greg and Talese met. "Wait a minute, this was in 2005?", you might be asking yourself. Yes, it's true. The sparks didn't fly immediately between Greg and Talese. Though Talese has recently admitted that her interest was piqued that night (or possibly even days before while browsing through Marcus' "friends" on LDSlinkup.com--I mean, how could she resist someone with a username like "Safety Kid" who followed through with handsome photographs, substantial height, a future law degree, and evidential online wit??!!!), Greg has recently admitted he was not impressed with Talese's hairstyle at the time, and his interest, well, wasn't piqued. So, Greg continued his studies at BYU law school, and Talese continued working at East High School, 45 minutes of driving and a history of failed long-distance relationships separating them. Seven months later, to Talese's surprise, Greg showed up to a farewell party for Talese the night before she left to dance on the "Norwegian Sun" cruise ship for 7 1/2 months. A friend snapped this random picture while Greg and Talese were chatting with Talese's friend Camron and her husband Adam. A bit awkward considering Greg and Talese really hadn't spoken much. Ever. Until this night.

Talese returned from her cruise ship adventures in November of 2006, She got an unexpected invitation to join Greg at a Christmas party in December, then after an expected, yet thwarted New Year's Eve kiss, they recovered lost ground on a St. George bluff in January.
They have been together ever since.
And we can build this dream together, standing strong forever, nothing's gonna stop us now.

Wheeler Farm Family Reunion

We've been engaged for just over a week now and have wasted no time in getting to know each other's families. By that I mostly mean that this past weekend I met more of Talese's family than I will probably ever remember names for. Her grandpa really wanted to get everyone together for a big family picture. So, acting on the assumption that neither Talese nor I will catch a frostbite-inducing case of cold feet sometime during the next 5 months, I was invited along as part of the family. We met at Wheeler Farm, took some professional-grade family pictures and then engaged in some revelry, merrymaking, and even some attempted fratricide. Along the way I snapped a few pictures myself. We have yet to see whose turned out better, mine or the "professional."

As proof that it is an actual farm, Talese and Annie enjoy the sights and smells.

Megan made a new friend, unfortunately I didn't catch his name.

Just a beautiful young maiden walking along a scenic country road, enjoying the warm sunshine.

And oh look, the young maiden has found her true love and they are walking hand-in-hand down the path leading to their very bright future.

And here the beautiful young maiden is joined by several members of her family as they search through the grass for the lens to her father's glasses that was sent flying through the air by a poorly-executed, yet powerfully-hit strike of an unnaturally hard volleyball off the right foot of her brother, Brian, that crashed violently into the side of said father's face.

LAGOON!

This past weekend we had a family reunion with Talese's family, as well as her mom's family. We kicked it off in mad style with a trip to Lagoon. As anyone who has ever been to Lagoon can attest, it is impossible to encapsulate the whole experience into mere words. Or even mere words accompanied by amateur photography. So I guess we'll just encapsulate a few small moments and let you imagine the rest.


We're still smiling, so you can tell it's early in the day. This is also right before the stupid Cliffhanger left us completely soaking--a state in which we spent the entire rest of the day--and permanently wiped the smiles off our beautiful faces.

Depicted here you will find Talese, Andrew, Mitchell, Kenton, Abbie, Eliza, and Maren. Play a fun little game and see if you can match up the names with the faces. This is shortly after the Cliffhanger disaster of '07, as evidenced by the general appearance of clothing and footwear being rather wet.

The little kids got M&Ms. The big kids did not. I think you can clearly see who is happiest.


And here we are at the end of the night, still smiling. Our love lifting us up, as on eagle's wings, to mythical lands where hope springs eternal, yet doesn't leave you soaking wet.

We're Engaged!

Here we are, up and running. You can expect updates soon!