“Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.”

James Beard immortalized those words about bread, and I wholeheartedly agree. However, I would like to make one small addendum-

“Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods;
and good bread with fresh homemade jam, the greatest of feasts.”

That's right... On Thursday we implored the genius of my Grandma Jones to teach us LeSueur girls the tricks behind making homemade, whole wheat bread. A time-consuming feat, fresh bread just out of the oven is is totally worth the effort!

Here, Mom and Grandma are beginning the process of mixing the ingredients.

My mom remembers Grandma, from her childhood, standing on a stool to kneed the bread- true to form, she asked for a stool and really got rough with that dough! This is an especially good pastime if you have anger issues you need to work through!

Little Miss Audrey was so amused by watching Grandma at work... She couldn't take her eyes off of Grandma J!

My mama, putting the bread into the oven-- ever so carefully so as to not let it fall!

Three loaves, topped with oatmeal and barley, soundly baking in the oven.

Look at those beautiful loaves!

Here's my daddy, enjoying the fruits (literally) of our labor! Dinner was bread and jam :)


For your viewing pleasure, here's some advice and a story about baking bread:

Thanks, Grandma Jones, for teaching us all about the fine art of baking bread-- Another successful mother-in-zion lesson for the journals (or blogs)!

A Springtime Outing With A Sweet Ending...

Looking a lot like the Blueman Group, we all piled into the Suburban Monday afternoon to take a trip down to one of my favorite places ever-- the Dallas Farmer's Market! We went with the intent of buying strawberries to make my Grandma LeSueur's famous freezer jam, but of course, we left with a few more things than just strawberries! :)

All in all, we accumulated the 16 pounds of strawberries we set out to get, two mangoes, six tomatoes, two baskets of baby red potatoes, 16 ears of sweet corn, a watermelon, a white hydrangea plant, a betterboy tomato plant, and a partridge in a pear tree. We all love the farmer's market!

The Red Barn is like the costco of the farmer's market. This is where we go whenever we want something fresh, and a lot of it. LOVE this place!

This is the man who sold us our strawberries!

Mom with her tomato plant... I can't wait 'till we have some homegrown tomatoes to eat!

Look at how yummy everything looks! I love fresh fruits and veggies!

This was Daddy's inaugural trip to the farmer's market... We were SO excited he was there, but when he moved the car from the food section to the flower section, he decided he would stay in the car. What a party-pooper!

Mom with the hydrangeas... These are her favorite flowers! Mine too!

The Jensen family

The women of the family... Looking great (as per usual)


Today we took those strawberries and mushed them up, added lemon juice, sugar, and pectin, and canned our strawberry freezer jam! This was a great Mother-in-Zion lesson taught to us by none other than domestic goddess, Grandma LeSueur. She has been making freezer jam since the sixties, and one of my favorite memories of visiting her house growing up is the yummy strawberry jam she always had for us to put on our breakfast toast! It's wonderful being able to recreate this childhood memory at will now- I think a new era has dawned in my life!

Preparing.

Mashing.

Boiling.

Canning.

We got fifteen pints and four half-pints out of 10 pounds of strawberries. No. We won't share with you- but feel free to call us for some pointers... we'll defer all questions to one Ms. Audree LeSueur!


Thanks Grandma!

"There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved."

A day late, here are the happy happenings of this last week:

1. I FINALLY got my room all cleaned up and organized! Even if it was because I get to have a guest in my room for the next week, I'm so happy (and relieved) that it's done and looking great! :)
2. My grandmas (both of them) arrived in Dallas on Saturday for some spring-time fun! They came for Miss Audrey Kate's blessing-- which was yesterday. We got a lot of great pictures, and we have great memories of this special day!
3. The weather was nice enough Sunday morning for Lance to drive up to Dallas from Waco for Audrey's blessing. Despite the crazy thunderstorms we had Saturday night that flooded the lake behind our house, Sunday was really a nice day.
4. Daddy wrote a contract with another LDS family who will be building a home here in our neighborhood in Prosper, Texas! This is really good and really exciting news for Newport Homebuilders! :)
5. My good friend Jordan is home from school and we got to do lunch on Wednesday (my day off). We also did a little bit of light shopping. It was fun catching up-- and as if that wasn't enough, I got to spend that evening cooking dinner and curled up on my dear friend Michelle's couch as we watched Bride Wars! I love that girl!!

Another good week has gone by-- I can't believe it's May already!

A Bonnet, a Blessing, and a Bad Bolting Beagle

Audrey Kate Jensen was given a name and a blessing at Sacrament meeting this morning in the Plano 9th Ward. She wore the blessing gown my Great-Grandma Brown (my mom's mom's mom) crocheted out of fine nylon thread for my mom when she was blessed in October of 1961 in the Lehi 1st ward in Mesa, Arizona. Camille wore the dress when she was blessed in January 1984 in Mesa 21st ward, still in Mesa, Arizona. Today, little Audrey carried on the tradition. Added to the beautiful dress was a darling pink afghan with white ribbon laced through the border made just for her by her Great-Grandma Jones (my mom's mom), and a sheer bonnet made just for her my her Grandma LeSueur (my mom). She looked just like a little angel sent from heaven above! :)

I love that she was so happy today! She only cried a little bit durring her blessing when she spit her binky out onto the floor...

If you look closely, you can see the beautiful stitch on the blanket. My grandma found this pattern when she was in Dallas for Thanksgiving, it took her about three weeks to finish it... She's so talented!
The whole Jensen family-- including the Molly the dog!!

This was everyone involved in the blessing. Audrey is hidden- but you get the idea! Both of my grandmas flew in for the blessing. We're so happy to have them here for a little bit of spring-time fun! Lance woke up at 7:00 this morning just to drive up here from Waco for the blessing. We were really glad he made it :)

Uncle Trevor with the little angel!

Four generations from the Jones line...

Parents and the LeSueur grandparents with baby Audrey

Audrey and Grandma LeSueur. Look at that bonnet- my mom made it at 11:00 last night for the 11:00 blessing this morning. I'm so glad I have such a talented momma to learn from!

Daddy/Daughter :)

I love this picture!

Audrey and her doting parents. They're such a cute little family!

Audrey's first eye-roll caught on camera... She IS her mother's daughter!


In other news, Buddy decided to make his great escape right before we took pictures and he took a five-and-a-half hour romp through the woods. He always knows how to make a day more memorable! After chasing him for about two hours, we finally decided to just let him chase rabbits until he got tired and HOPE he finds his way home... Scratches, thorns, blood, and all-- thank goodness he finally strolled home at 9:00... Dumb dog!

But overall, it was a wonderfuly blessed day :)

Blessings, Blessings Everywhere!

So, I'm starting a new thing... Every Sunday night I'm going to write down five good things that happened to me during the preceding week. Starting tonight! :)

1. I got to go to Waco and spend some time with my loverrr and his friends, AND I got to eat some strawberry cheesecake yogurt!
2. I got to go to Scarborough Fair and hang out with Lance, his dad, his little brother (who dressed as a wizard. It was the coolest thing ever!) and his little sister. I also got to ride an elephant. And eat a turkey leg. NOT simultaneously, but it was still great!
3. I got to go to stake conference today and sit next to my daddy as I witnessed the stake presidency being reorganized. It was a wonderful spiritual experience, and I got a lot of great quotes from it!
4. I got to go visiting teaching today for the first time in this ward. I have a great partner and I visit two wonderful ladies- visiting teaching really is a wonderfully inspired program, and I'm happy to be a part of it!
5. I got a "new" old desk from a man who had it listed on CraigsList. It's a beautiful Federal style 1930's desk that needs a little love down the road- but I am so happy to have it! My imagination is going wild thinking about the stories this desk probably has to tell. If only desks could talk!

It was a GREAT week! :)

Auntie Chelsea's Brag-blog

Audrey Kate continues to be an adorable baby. It was determined, at last Friday's two-week appointment, that she is back up to her birth weight, and then some! She is sleeping through the night... well, until about 6:30, and- she has really begun to appreciate her sponge baths! She is a vivacious little eater, and an even more lively pooper, and we thing she's just great!

We count her in our blessings every day, and we just think she's the cutest and best baby in Texas! Here are pictures from her two-week "photo shoot". The first outfit (the pink bow with the polkadot onesie) was the outfit she wore on her first outing, which was to the mall. Fitting, right?!








The pink shoes with the ribbon ties were her first pair of shoes, given to her by Grandma LeSueur on Cami's birthday.

This dress was given to Miss Audrey by fellow name-buddy Audrey G., one of our good family friends. It is a beautiful battenberg lace sundress, and she looks like a little porcelin doll in it! But then again, AJ looks like a doll in anything she happens to have on :)

Audrey Kate plus Aunt Chelsea equals photoshoot-palooza!

Isn't she beautiful?!