L stands for LiLacs and....Love :)

This month is our (Jesse & I) 10 year High School graduation anniversary. WOW!
It is also our 10 year anniversary from when we started dating. We dated for 5 years and now have been married for 5 (next month)! I don't know the date at which we officially started dating, if there even was an official date(?) Honestly, I sometimes can't even remember our wedding anniversary date.
Anyway...I told you that the last picture of the last slideshow was a preview of my next blog post. Now, IF your name happens to be Ellen or Becky or, well I don't remember who else has had to hear this story before, you need not read any further...AND if you don't particularly care for giddy little sweet stories, then also do not read further. BUT if you want to know just WHY lilacs were our wedding flower and why lilacs make me S-M-I-L-E then please enjoy the story. Oh, and Dad and Mom, I don't know if you want to read either - it's not bad, but I don't want to even THINK that someday Paige might be 'old enough' for this stuff!

The Story:
Once upon a time a silly little blonde girl had a BIG HUGE crush on a very attractive classmate with amazing biceps and cool shoes, who also happened to be the best athlete in the land AND was super shy, and oh, his eyes, wow, his eyes...IF he would ever make eye contact! There was just something about him! He wasn't just Jesse, he was Jesse Hedeen. (For some reason I always referred to him as Jesse Hedeen, not just Jesse. haha).
Finally she caught his attention when she spilled her Biggie sized pop in math class ~ that broke the ice, no pun intended. During the track season of their junior year the silly blonde girl (referred to as SBG from here on out) and The Jesse Hedeen (referred to as TJH from here-forward) became friends. The friendship grew through their senior year; Imagine being that poor SBG and dealing with a bad/good case of The Daily Butterflies!
As the track season of their senior year progressed, the lilacs eventually started blooming. One day the SBG and TJH 'happened' to be leaving the field at the same time. The mystical TJH said, "I love it when the lilacs finally start blooming in the spring! They smell soooo good." The SBG thought it was so cute that TJH had just said such a thing.
A month later, when the lilacs were in full bloom, the SBG left track practice and headed toward her car; on her windshield, tucked into the windshield wiper, was a little bundle of freshly picked lilacs. At first she thought they were from her old boyfriend and almost tossed them into the road, as she had previously done with a few dozen annoying red roses, BUT then she remembered, with glee, THAT conversation she had had with TJH. Maybe...just maybe.......
She never found out for sure, but she pretended that they were from TJH and drove around with the lilacs in her car until they were dead and brittle, until....a new, bigger bundle of lilacs were found on her windshield again!!!
Still never knowing, after track season ended and graduation happened, the SBG was telling her cousin Becky about how the lilacs and how she was 'sure' they had to have been from TJH and Becky said, "Well if you marry him someday, you know what your wedding flower will have to be!"
Shortly after that, TJH became MJH (My Jesse Hedeen) and he eventually admitted to being the secret lilac-leaver.
And 10 yeas later, he still has amazing biceps, cool shoes, beautiful eyes and can still run fast and hit homeruns, but he's not so shy anymore. And sadly, I'm still the SBG who spills her food and drink. How crazy is it that this guy, this huge crush of mine, who seemed to Hollywood-Brad-Pittesque-Unobtainable became my husband... and we even have an amazing little girl that we get to enjoy together.

I have never particularly cared for TJH to buy me flowers, it seems like a waste of money, but when he brings me home a hand-picked little handful of lilacs it just makes my day.

Spring Photo Album

What a fun 'start' to Spring and Summer...very fun times with friends and family. Loving our new home, our jobs, and the end of a long winter. Paige turned 3. Wow. We celebrated by taking a very quick trip to Portland for her bday weekend. Jesse's mom and family were able to join us for a fun sunny at the zoo. And then Jesse and I got to go to a Nickleback concert at the Rose Garden while Grandma CharLee babysat Paige and got in some good snuggling time. The concert was awesome, my favorite band...pretty sad maybe that I knew every single song; The best part about a loud rock concert is that you can sing along really loud and the person right next to you can't even hear you! haha.
We rented a brand new Chevy Malibu for the drive, there was NO way we were going to mess with the high possibility of car problems along the way. Everytime we got in the car Paige would say, "Oooh, nice car!" Poor little girl, even she knows the difference.
We came back and had a sweet little bday party for her with Great-Grandma Linda and Grandpa and Grandma B. I was reminded of the harsh reality on Mother's Day that I wasn't super-mom...considering that I had to ask MY mom to make my very own daughter's birthday cake! But it was delicious and adorable so we're all happy.
The following weekend we had a very fun weekend lots of our relatives in town for Kenny's wedding.
Now I must finish up my homework for the day while Jesse is mowing the lawn and Paige is taking a nap. Oh but check back soon, I have a fun blog topic. The very last picture in this slideshow is a sneak preview ;)

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Paige Road-Rage

I was driving through town and pulled up to a stoplight; we are sitting behind a car that is obviuosly also stopped at the stop light. From the backseat Paige said, "Moozch (move) Car!" Ha-ha, she was yelling at the car in front of us to get out of our way! Nice. I swear she didn't learn that from me ~
10 seconds go by and she yells louder, "Get outta my way Car!" Again, she didn't learn that from me. Or her dad.
Finally the light turns green and the car starts moving, and she says with great satisfaction, "There, that's better."

Now to share her sweetness: She has FINALLY decided to say "I love you" back to mommy and daddy; we've been trying forever to get this exchange from her. It's my favorite. She hugs me and looks me in the eye and puts her hands on my cheek and says, "I love you, momma."
And then after I say, "Oh I love you too Paige," she says, "I love you toooooooooo."
She was also expressing her love to her fruit snacks the other day, "I love you," "Oh, I love you too," "I love you too foot stack."

Weekend Fun

I love fun weekends. Who doesn't though right? We had our good friends Aaron and Kim and their super cute kids, Ava and Tyson, over for dinner Saturday evening. Ava and Paige are exactly two months apart and it was fun to see them play together. It was great for Paige to be around Ava because Ava is really outgoing and Paige not so much...Paige eventually warmed up to her and they had a great time. They chased Carmen around, and hung out on the porch together singing songs to each other and giggling and trying to talk about things.





Easter
Once again, Dave and Denay hosted an awesome easter party. Denay's white cake is always my favorite part :)
Here are some pics of some of the kids and the easter egg hunt.