J'adore Octobre!

This is why I love October...

It is the perfect weather to be outside in, so momma, Cam, Audrey, and me went to Canton where we people can go to buy the things they never knew they wanted...
This picture pretty much says it all... It's kindoa like one big garage sale on the one side, and on the other side, people sell the things they've made-- like a big craft fair! While I loved both sides, Mom and Cam only liked the craft side!

After walking and walking and walking, we sat down to take a quick rest... Audrey was completely worn out by this point!

This is the before picture of the stroller. It has a baby in it... and that's normal.

Here's the after picture of the stroller... No baby... Lots of stuff!

Ahh, there she is-- looking cute as can be! Sassy little thing in the Sassy baby 'store'

Group shot!

Orange Pumpkins are one of my favorite things of all time. I love orange, and pumpkins wear the color so well! We went to the farmer's market Saturday and we each picked out a pumpkin!
There were lots to choose from...

Jensen family picture!

Audrey was the cutest little witchey-poo, and loved the pumpkins!

Lance was even with us :) :) :)

Family picture! It was early in the morning so the sun was in a bad spot... but I love this photo!

Look at that bird... he was just perched on the wheel!

General Conference is the first weekend of October, and i love general conference! I love conference because it's a time to listen to the Lord's prophet and apostles' counsel for us. I love conference because it is a time to spend a good solid weekend with family. I love conference because it is the most uplifting weekend of the year!

Audrey playing with Grandpa's hat... So cute!

Rock-a-bying with Uncle Trev.

...And holding on for dear life with mama.

I love October!

Go Eagles! Prosper Homecoming 2009

My baby brother, who is growing up much too much quickly, had his first high school homecoming experience! Homecoming is a much bigger deal in Prosper than Plano... So Trev was delighted when he, along with all the other Prosper school kiddos, got out of school at noon on Friday so he could attend, along with the rest of the town of Prosper, the homecoming parade... Later that night, everyone-- and I do mean everyone, turned out to watch the Prosper Eagles slaughter the Decatur Eagles 49-10.
Trevor at the parade with friends

Trevor took Hillary to the homecoming dance, and this is the garter she made for him. He was so cute with it on!


This is the mum we made for Hillary... Momma and I had a lot of fun working on it! It is so great to create things! :)

Everything below is thanks to these two people... Brother Fisher and Sister Ophar made sure all the priests and laurels went to homecoming and were able to do so in an environment where there was no pressure to have a date or drink or have any of the other dumb pressures that accompany high school dances. These two are amazing!

This was the dinner mom and I made and served to the kiddos... It started off with a spinach artichoke dip, then progressed to a mixed berry and candied walnut salad. For the main entree, we served chicken cordon bleu with garlic mashed potatoes, French-style green beans, III Forks creamed corn, and Lion House rolls. For dessert, we served a blueberry mini tart. Everything was beautiful and very delicious :)

Here are the boys...

And the group... They all look so good!

Trevor and Hillary

The group with the hummer Sister Ophar and her husband were awesome enough to provide to the kids with their 'magic carriage' for homecoming. They loved it!

Go Eagles!

The Bigger the Better...

Just to give you a taste of what we do to our highschoolers here in Texas around homecoming, I submit to you a picture. The second girl from the last on the right is Kelly, Trevor's homecoming date who goes to Plano West. My mom and I made the huge mum she's wearing, and it fits in perfectly with the other mums. In fact, I would say its superior to the other mums!

Yes, this is what we do to our girls in Texas... Its one of the many wonderful signs of fall :)

Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire

I am going to continue to count my many blessings throughout December. It was so wonderful to be able to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with my family; both of my grandmas flew in from Arizona to share this food and gratitude-filled holiday with us. They were also here to see me turn 21 and Cami turn 25 (on the 25th, I might add... 25 on the 25th)! It was so much fun to share these events with them because, growing up, we weren't able to be with them for this short pre-Christmas break very often.

Having the three-generation (soon to be four) thing going on over thanksgiving was really so great. My Grandma Jones was able to make her famous real cranberry salad and my Grandma LeSueur was there to make her famous Swedish salad- both of which are staples at our Thanksgiving table! My daddy fried the turkeys and my momma whipped up some amazing mashed potatoes, yam town potatoes, and some homemade whipped cream. I was in charge of the pumpkin and pecan pies, and Cam did everything else in between. We took our family Christmas card picture, as well as a TON of other good ones. We set up our Christmas tree, decorated it, drank homemade wassail with our homemade whipped cream, and read Christmas stories. We relived family memories, talked about our excitement for upcoming memories we are sure to make, and we had several family prayers together. This truly was the type of Thanksgiving pictured in Norman Rockwall picture books!


My dad, the turkey fryer- we successfully cooked two turkeys without blowing the house up!

Look at my cute brother putting the pies in the oven.

My mama, making the grahmcracker crust for the banana-cream pie.

Kevin added another skill to his list of manly things he can do- he can now do 12 things on his list!

Cam and Kevin at the dinner table with my beautiful centerpeice :)

Momma, Cami, and Baby J!

Our family picture- see how cute we can be!

Buddy LOVES scratching his back on the bottom limbs of the Christmas tree. It's his favorite part of Christmas- that, and all of the handouts he gets.

Everyone with the beautifully decorated Christmas tree :)


Now, I must make this clear, I only paint this beautiful picture to create a sort of nostalgia so I can come back and read about all these good things when my family is hurriedly rushing around during the not-so-picturesque times of the year. So, I suppose I am grateful for the opportunities we have to create some wonderful memories, so that we can cling onto them when things aren't so perfect. I love thinking back to times my whole family has been together. I think about things like my family's visit to Utah for General Conference my freshman year of college. Oh, I'm sure there were a few meltdowns that happened- but I don't remember them. I do, however, remember the warm feelings I got when I went with Cam and Kevin to pick up Mom, Dad, and Trevor from the airport. I remember having lunch between conference sessions at some restaurant across from temple square. I remember going shopping while the boys were attending priesthood session. Whenever I was homesick in the subsequent months, I would think about this wonderful time we had together, and it would lift me up!

Us, at lunch

My friend Bethany, me and Cam

The boys- we have so many pictures with Kevin's face like this... I roll my eyes every time I look at one of them...

Another favorite memory of mine is when my family went to New York City the Christmas of my freshman year in high school. I'll never forget stepping out of the subway and into times square and looking up and seeing the beautiful and angelic snow falling from the heavens. I also will never forget having to pull my over packed suitcases through that 'heavenly snow' a few blocks to our Times Square hotel. I'll always remember how alive the city was and my bubbling excitement for life. We were in Times square to usher in 2003 and watching the confetti rain down as the clock struck 12 can't be described by any other adjectives except magical. On this trip is when my 10-year-old brother unleashed his inner sumo (email me if you want to see those photos- I don't think they're appropriate for the www!), we visited the infamous soup kitchen- as made famous by Seinfeld's 'Soup Nazi' episode- where I got yelled at by no one other than 'The Soup Nazi' himself, and we took a taxi to church- which was between Central Park and Carnegie Hall, right below the temple that was under construction at that time. We did lots and lots of shopping, and I bought my notoriously famous purse called 'Big Red' from a sidewalk vendor; my mother was sure I had been ripped off. Thinking of this trip reminds me to always be excited about life- I was so excited to be in New York and it was wonderful to be there with my family!

Happy 2003!


I love this picture... This was on our way to church. Trev was so little!

So, there you have it- these are a few of my favorite memories. Take some time and jot down some thoughts about your favorite memories when you have a few minutes and think about them whenever you're blue- it works wonders! Try it... you'll like it :)

Our Search For The Perfect Pumpkin

It has long been a tradition in our family to go to the Farmer's Market in Downtown Dallas to get pumpkins, bales of hay, stocks of corn, and flowers! When we were little, my mom would take us kids while my dad enjoyed a day at best buy, looking at a new toy for him. This is the first year in a while we have been able to go- so it was great to restart this fun fall tradition, and throw Kevin into the mix- even if he did roll his eyes at the scrutiny with which we examined our pumpkins and the copious amount of pictures I took! When we got downtown, we got some lunch at Dos Panchas, this cute little Mexican food restaurant, where we watched part of the University of Texas vs. Oklahoma University college football game. Texas and OU are major rivals, and Texas WON!!

So when the boys (and Baby J) were fed and happy, we started off on our search for the perfect pumpkins:

We saw all sorts of pumpkins- really really big ones, grey ones, white ones, teeny tiny ones,
warty, bumpy ones


green ones that look like ducks,


orange/red/white/green ones that look like Rafiki's bum, according to Kevin,


many terracotta pots,


and lots and lots of beautiful fall flowers!


These pumpkins look so neat when stacked with other flat-ish pumpkins. They're S-U-P-E-R HEAVY though!


Mom and Cam looking for the flawless 'designer pumpkin'.


While we were obsessing over the perfect pumpkin, Trev and Kev were taking it easy- probably following some football game on Trevor's phone. BUT, I feel like I should stress how wonderfully complacant they were after being fed lunch. Rather than whining, they were just sitting patiently, letting us girls do our thing. Thanks Boys! :)

We finally found our perfect pumpkins and hay just as the farmers were closing their markets- Once we get them arranged in all their fall splendor, I'll make sure to document their perfection!

Here are some other cute pictures from today:
Cam and Kevin were thrilled to see a sign advertising meats since they now know (and have educated all those who read their blog) where the different cuts of meat come from!


My talented soccer player brother, juggling a water bottle his feet!


Me and my momma with the beautiful fall flowers


It's the great pumpkin, Cami J!


A cute picture of Mom and Trevor at Dos Panchas!


Kevin loves posing for pictures!!


This is all of us- my skirt has a little bit of Marilyn Monroe action going on, my life is ever so exciting! We all had a great time today, and yes- while we were carrying on the tradition of Farmer's Market pumpkins, Daddy carried on the tradition of shopping for his own toy at Best Buy. Apparently he has been thinking about replacing his not-mac laptop for a mac, so he was able to spend his 'daddy time' getting information about that. In case you didn't know- macs are sent from heaven. I highly recommend everyone within eye shot of these words pay a visit to your apple store today and see all the things a mac can do for you! Once you're fully converted, your life will NEVER be the same... And oh yeah- Happy Fall too :)