In My Own Little Corner

Okay, so it's been a little heavy over here on my blog. So I thought I would lighten things up by giving you an update on our lives - not the baby, purpose, mission stuff, but what we're actually up to.

Tax season is over!! My husband actually gets to come home and spend time with me. We are actually both "quality time" love language people so tax season was challenging for both of us. The really awesome thing about tax season was that I really got to dive into my hobbies. As in, I had ample time to be creative.

Some of the things I am currently interested in:

Sewing!

I did not have an apron and after 3 years of really wanting one I finally looked up an easy pattern and made myself one.

There is a lady in my local church congregation that has fabric to make quilts for life flight patients. She has a great/easy pattern to make this. That's what I'm all about easy, beginner projects. I've made a few of these and they are so fun.

Remember when I started this?? I finally finished the quilt top. I like how it turned out. I like this pattern too. Again, easy and super fun. If quilting wasn't so stinking expensive I would make a million. Unfortunately, quilting is expensive so I'll just take this hobby slow and steady. 

Embroidery! Wow, I had no idea how much I would fall in love with this super easy hobby. The top one I made for my brother's mother-in-law. It was so fun. With this piece my mother-in-law taught me about color. Which is super helpful because I have no knowledge in this. She suggested the gold and I love how it turned out. The bottom piece I made for our young women camp fundraiser (silent auction). I was super nervous to donate something that I made, but I was satisfied with it. 

Flower Arranging:

This is something that I really wanted to try, but had no idea where to start. When I finally settled on a job it required that I do some flower arranging. This is an arrangement I made. There is so much about flower arranging that intimidates me, but the process is so fun and then who doesn't love fresh flowers??

This is an arrangement I tried on my own. I just bought the flowers at a local Smith's grocery store. I had such a fun time putting it all together and being able to experiment. The quality of the flowers weren't stellar, but I like how it turned out. 

Some of the others things that I have really enjoyed doing, but don't have pictures for:

-cooking

-cleaning (ha!)

-yard work

-READING - the most engrossing book I read in the last few months was The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton. Wow. I pretty much read it in one day. Loved the character development and twist in the end! Also, I just really love libraries. They are my favorite.

-aqua Zumba (grannies are my favorite!)

-planning dream vacations

-watching movies - I think I watched Moana a dozen times. Seriously the best movie.

Things I am looking forward to now that I have my best friend back:

-trips to see family

-more reading! I LOVE reading with Mckay and I have an eternal book list. Who's with me? 

-gardening - Mckay and I are going to try to plant our own garden this year and we are both so stoked! 

-BBQ's with friends and family. We bought outdoor bulb lights for our back yard and we are so excited to spend as much time as out there.

-hiking and camping

-not having to work for the months of June and July

-family reunions

-exercising together

There were a few super fun things that we were able to do during tax season. Here's a few pictures. 

This was our very fun Valentine's Day Date.

We got to go snow shoeing twice while it was still snowy. So beautiful and so fun!

Mckay and I were able to quick go out to my sister's and watch my nephew get his Arrow of Light. He is the cutest and growing up way too fast. I steal cheek kisses from him as much as I can before he gets too old/too cool to be kissed by his aunt. Also, my niece. :) She really enjoyed the refreshments at the Arrow of Light ceremony. She has the most adorable personality. It is so fun to live so much closer to my sister and her kids. 

Mckay didn't come with me to this, but I was able to go to SALT Women's LDS Retreat. It was so awesome. I am so excited because they are going to do their next retreat in Provo!

So I LOVE Asian food. Mckay and I were able to go on some dates together. We were able to go on some quick dinner dates and quick tennis dates. Such needed time together!

Sunday walks, weather permitting, have been our favorite. 

For Easter, we were able to go to my sisters house. We ate a yummy dinner and celebrated my niece's 9th birthday. We also played pie face.

Life has been really great. We have felt so blessed and so grateful for this time of our lives. God is so good. He understands us, loves us, and gives us all that we need and more. I have been especially grateful for the opportunities I've had to explore my interests and create beautiful things. 

xoxo, 

Joanie

Third Time's Not So Charming

This is me, January 20, 2017, 12 weeks pregnant, going in for surgery to remove our sweet baby who no longer had a heartbeat. 

Because tax season had already started, Mckay couldn't be there with me. So my sister, who kindly took the day off to be with me, took this picture to send to my family with an update. 

You may be wondering why I am smiling. This wasn't exactly a happy day. 

    1. If you knew my sister, you'd know she could put a smile on anyone's face. 

    2. Despite the overwhelming emotions that have come with our repeated miscarriages, I know that          God loves me and has a plan for me and my family.

In this moment, I felt a sorrow so deep and so personal and so overwhelming, but I also felt a blanket of peace. Peace because of the amount of tender mercies I had witnessed on my behalf, not just with this most recent miscarriage, but with all of them. My heart can't help but turn to gratitude when I witness so many expressions of love from my Heavenly Father. 

It has been gratitude, through all the sorrow, anger, confusion, and hurt, that has steered me back to my Savior. Although he hasn't taken this trial away, he has filled me with peace that passes all understanding. 

Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:6-7

Jesus Christ is the one true source of peace. He suffered, died, and rose again so he could fill my heart with peace in this exact moment. It is because of his Atonement and Resurrection that I can face loss with hope and joy.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. - Isaiah 53:4-5

Hoping you can find peace and comfort in your own battle through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, the Prince of Peace.

xoxo,
Joanie

Squire & Company

The Lindsey family has some exciting news to share!

Mckay starts his new job today! He was offered a Tax position at Squire & Company in October. We could not be more excited about joining this firm! Squire has been in our sights for a while now. About two years ago Mckay found out about them through his current job and ever since felt like they would be a great firm to work for. After going through school and learning more about what he likes about accounting and what he doesn't, Squire looked even more attractive.

Going into this recruiting season he was really set on Squire. So much so, that he didn't apply to anywhere else. This about gave me a heart attack. The morning of Squire's networking event it hit me that there were a lot of CPA firms coming to campus, but Mckay only applied to one. Holy smokes. Thankfully Squire liked him!

But how could they not?

When Mckay and I started hanging out in high school I knew there was something special about him. He is humble, hardworking, honest, and true. True is the best word I can think of in my limited vocabulary. He fills my life with goodness and light. I had no idea life could be so full. It is a special privilege to share in his life and watch him start his career. It's an exciting time for sure!

The only downside to this deal is the fact that for the next several months I will see less and less of Mckay while Tax Season is in full swing. It's a good thing I have lots of projects and ideas for all this free time I'll have.

Here's a random picture of us this fall during recruiting season.

The Last Events of Summer

I love fall. 

Everything is rich and the air buzzes with new beginnings. 

School starts in two weeks and my head is reeling that summer flew by so quickly. That is actually one of the reasons I love fall too. Currently I am not going back to school, but I work at USU and our students come back and I couldn't be more excited. They bring variety and life to my job. 

I don't actually think I have talked about my job very much. I am a Program Coordinator for the Master of Human Resource Program. Fall is an exciting time for our students. We admit a new cohort for fall each year so we have new students coming and then what we call our "second years," they are coming back from their summer internships. Our new cohort has been preparing all summer for HR recruiting season that starts the first week of school. Our second years are anticipating job offers from their summer internships. There is definitely a buzz around our office. 

Besides our students coming, I am excited for pumpkin treats, the leaves changing, and fall clothes! Since I have lived in cold places for so long my wardrobe has transformed into a lot of sweaters and jeans. Scarves. I absolutely love scarves. If you ever need a gift idea for me I love scarves. 

Anyway, Mckay and I are wrapping up our summer. Last month had many adventures. Here are some highlights.

As mentioned previously Mckay and I stayed in the Anniversary Inn in Logan. Through a deal from staying there we were able to get a room booked for Jamie and Alyssa. So they came up to spend the weekend. We had so much fun. We floated the Oneida river and ate yummy food. We love when family comes to see us!


BEWARE: Overload of pictures from my trip to Wisconsin. This was an AMAZING trip. Unfortunately, Mckay couldn't come with me, but because my brother-in-law, Cody had a business trip the week I came it meant that we had a whole girl's week. Getting the chance to spend a whole week with my mom, sister, and her three beautiful daughters was a dream. The hardest part was coming home.

Maurie and Jane with the purses we brought them. It was so cute how they both knew exactly what to do with them. 

Brooklyn Jo - the perfect baby. She's a heart-melter.

One day we went to see the music in the park, but missed it by minutes. Instead we ended up going to a cute presentation at the library. The girls got to see frogs and turtles. This is a turtle shell that they got to see. Maurie was a little confused why grandma was putting this thing on her back. 

One afternoon during quiet time we tried our hand at some painting (via YouTube tutorial). We had some hearty laughs and our paintings didn't turn out too bad. 

Later that night Lucy got a babysitter and us adults went out to dinner by the fox river. Did I mention how beautiful Wisconsin is? There is nothing as healing and fulfilling to me as spending quality time with my family. 

We went to lake Michigan - huge! It could have passed as ocean. Sweet Maurie fell in the freezing water so we had to take off her cold swimmer. Funny thing about Maurie is she looks exactly like Lucy and I did when we were little. I love it!

Lucy's kids are these teeny petite things. I had to get a picture of Maurie's feet in her teeny sandals. Too cute!

I sat in the back of the van to all of our excursions. Most of the time I fell asleep with the kids, but on our way to Lake Winnebago I took some pictures with Jane and Maurie.

Our last night Lucy promised the girls that we could have a sleepover. This was our setup. I didn't make it the whole night, but the girls did. That night we did sugar scrubs on our hands and feet and then painted our nails. 

Before our flight left we had lunch at McDonalds and let the girls play in the play place. I got to hold Brooklyn while she slept. I love squishy baby loves!

On our flight home we saw some beautiful clouds!

Oh, this was from our trip to Lake Winnebago. I miss those girls so much. It's so hard living so far away, but I was grateful to spend a week with them.

Like I said before, it was actually the worst coming home. After being so busy helping take care of children it was a shock to come back to my slow paced, pretty self-centered life. Crossing our fingers that our turn for a family is coming soon. 

An embroidery I did for my friend. It turned out alright. 

Preston Rodeo! Our cute friends the Richards stuck out the rodeo with us. I LOVE rodeo's. The patriotism, cowboys/girls, and horses are a good combination for me.

Here comes the water works!!

I'm sad we didn't get a picture with Mom and Dad Lindsey and Reagan, but this was Haley's farewell. 

We got Haley's first letter this week. Oh man. Talk about a cutie. Her talk was incredible, she's incredible. I am so excited to hear more about her mission!

This is Mckay's last semester of school here at USU. He will be graduating with his MAcc in December. I am so excited for him. We have some plans in the works, but we won't know for certain about them until later in the semester. There are exciting things coming though. So stay tuned for an exciting Lindsey Family update. 

xoxo,

Joanie

Summer Update

Happy 4th of July!

I love this holiday. It is such an amazing time of year to celebrate our country and to remember the abundance we enjoy. 

God bless the USA!

Mckay and I had a lot of fun in the month of June. Some of the highlights were:

• I started a quilt, that I'm hoping to finish this next month.

• Hiking with our ward members - I really didn't appreciate Logan when I moved here, but I sure do love it now. 

• Seeing Newsies at the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake with my good friend Kylie.
• Participating in a murder mystery dinner with some friends.
• Visiting Alise in Yucaipa, Ca, and going to Newport Beach. Holy Moly, talk about gorgeous. It was so fun to spend time with the Lindsey's and get some sunshine too!

• The Thornton's, my sister Holly and her family, came to visit us in Logan and it was a blast. We had a BBQ, got snow cones, watched a movie in our backyard, played Frisbee golf and swam at the Logan Aquatic Center. 
• The last week of June we spoiled ourselves and stayed at the Anniversary Inn here in Logan. We planned a staycation and took half a break from our daily routine. 

At the Anniversary Inn they bring you breakfast in bed. Best. Ever.

Which reminds me. I have been trying to hammer down a daily routine. Talk about a toughy. It takes so much discipline to stick to a routine. Being in school for so long, where your schedule changes every semester, you move every other semester, and your responsibilities can change every semester, I never got in the habit of doing the same thing every day. It's not really my personality. I don't really like doing the same thing every day, but I know that consistency really makes your life easier. So that's what I'm trying to do. 

One last thing. Mckay and I read a book on our way to and from California last month. It is called How Will You Measure Your Life? By Clayton M. Christensen. Seriously, read it. It's so good! It was the perfect book for Mckay and I to read together. It is full of business principles that relate to your life. This was such a perfect time to read this book because Mckay and I are starting to formulate a plan. We are finally figuring out what we want to do. I say we, because even though it is really Mckay that is figuring out what he wants to do, I am very much affected by his decisions. Our futures are tied together. Yay!

I have high expectations for July and can't wait for the adventures planned!