valentine's 2015

So apparently we only take pictures on holiday's. Whoops. But it's all good because that means we tried something new to take a picture of!

Valentine's Day 2015

Kennesaw Mountain

New Year's in Helen, GA

The beautiful Helen. We don't have enough words to describe the fun little North Georgia Mountains town of Helen. We thought we were super cool when we accidentally stumbled upon it thinking we found such a gem - which is all true! - but we were definitely not the discoverers of this place. Everyone knows and loves it. And for great reason.

It was such a rainy cloudy day but it just added to the gorgeous views

finding our roots

aw, Helen <3 

Nielsen Christmas 2014

Seriously, why has it taken me over a year to post these? Ridiculous. But here goes!

Christmas 2014

Classy and sassy and ugly Christmas sweaters

After our ward's wonderful Christmas Eve tradition of Carols and Cookies

Kyron reppin' his HRC tee and Stone Mountain ornament from our Thanksgiving adventures

playing catch-up

oh hey blog, what's up? it's been a while.

the whole entire reason i started this blog was to document our life - and i've failed miserably at that multiple times but especially this past year. 2015 was a hard one. but it was also a great one. so this is an obligatory heads up to the one reader i might have {mom} that an information overload is headed your way!

a huge huge part of my time since we moved to Atlanta was nannying for the best family ever! i adored working for them and have hundreds of adorable pictures that i can't post. but i wanted to keep it here as a reminder and never forget the sweet S fam :)

Thanksgiving 2014

This Thanksgiving was SO. MUCH. FUN. Seriously. My parents came to visit us for the weekend and we did a bunch of fun Atlanta-y things! So naturally I had to document all of it through the billion pictures I took. Whoops. #sorrynotsorry ;)

T H A N K S G I V I N G  D A Y

Please don't focus on how terrible I look... this was the end of our long day of cooking {my very first} Thanksgiving meal!

It was a dang good turkey. Just sayin'.

obligatory table setting pic

oh hey food. so much food.

my dad's well loaded dinner plate

most thankful for this man <3 

i love my dad!

And of course visiting Dooley - Emory's skeleton statue that was dressed to the nine's for a race at the time! We had to show my parents around campus - prove there's a reason we're 2,000 miles away from home ;)

D A Y  2

Showing my parents the famous Krog Street and they were impressed! If you haven't been, it's a must see! It's basically a tunnel full of graffiti - but really it's so much more. 

true love.

I couldn't resist. It seems like Emory made it onto the map when the recent ebola scares - this was just necessary.

This my friends, is the wall of helmets at the College Football Hall of Fame. And actually - this was just one part of it! 

When you go, they give you lanyards that you can personalize to your favorite college team. Naturally we had Utah following us everywhere we went.. thank goodness or we may have been overwhelmed by the SEC ;)

Can you tell he was a football player?

Flashing the U all over the place!

best dad

love these parents the most!

We all had the chance to attempt an extra point kick... here is Kyron. needless to say, it's ten million times harder than it looks! {except for the 10 year olds about to go pro as kickers..}

Every time we go somewhere new, my dad insists on eating at the local Hard Rock Cafe. As soon as I knew there was one in Atlanta, I knew we could get him to visit us ;) 

D A Y  3

We decided to try and work off our turkey dinner and go for a beautiful walk on the outskirts of Emory campus. This is the President's home tucked away off a gorgeous trail.

Found this fancy little bridge across the creek.

my pondering dad across the lake

the leaves may be missing, but it has been one amazing fall here!

oh sorry, just had to be romantics for a second

this mom <3 she is the best example and the ray of light that photobombed  this picture

Later that night we hiked up Stone Mountain. Seriously - the only mountain in Atlanta and it was about 2 miles. But it was a blast!

I think I was the only one who knew my mom was trying to take a picture here.. happy hiking!

It got dark so fast, but the view was incredible!

Love these folks <3 

 In all honesty, this Thanksgiving was one for the record books. We were so grateful that my parents were inspired to come visit us right at this time. What a happy way to start the holiday season!

countdown to conference

Hey ya'll. I can't believe it's September already! Where did the summer even go? 

Kyron has started school again so even the back-to-school hustle and bustle is already dying down

There have been crazy thunderstorms here the past two days and they make me feel all cozy

I noticed some leaves changing here and there 

I made a fall wreath {that has yet to be hung}

I even had some chicken noodle soup today during the storm

Seriously aching for some autumn

But my most favorite part about fall is October General Conference. I love conference.  I have been blessed enough to attend sessions live in the conference center. I always love curling up in my pj's on the couch and watching it from home. And it seems to always creep up on me without much notice! This year I wanted it to be different. I've been thinking about how I can prepare for conference over the next month. 

I live off of short term goals. If any of you are like me, you understand. The shorter the better. To-do lists for the day are the best. 

Wake up before 9 am? Check. 

Start the laundry before noon? Done. 

Put on pants for the day? Calm down, let's not get too crazy. 

But you get what I mean. 

So when I came across this "countdown to conference" today, I was pretty stoked. It was exactly what I was looking for. One conference talk a day for the next 30 days before conference. Perfect! That's a goal I can handle. 

[[I found this on Kyron's mission Facebook page. Check it out here.]]

{original challenge: Here is a challenge I would hope you would accept. Upon accepting please send us a post of your experience to ipm4life1@gmail.com so we can use it on our website.}

I hope some of you can join in with this too! Let me know if you do and the experiences you have. I know that I've already been blessed by the first talk today by Elder Holland. It's the exact thing I need for my lesson this Sunday! Already reaping blessings from conference and it's still a month away. 

Happy reading!

I'm a Mormon.

As I think every person who may come across this blog knows, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'm a Mormon. And I've been thinking a lot about what that means lately.

It means I have faith in my Savior, Jesus Christ.

It means that I know that I am a daughter of God.

It means that I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God - and that's because I've read it and learned for myself that it is true.

It means that I know God restored the gospel on the earth through His prophet Joseph Smith.

It means that I know God lives and loves each of His children.

It means that I know that Jesus Christ suffered for our sins, our pains, our trials, our sorrows and that because of Him, we can be lifted from our burdens and forgiven of our sins.

It means that I know Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again so that we can have eternal life.

It means that I know that as we keep all of God's commandments, we will be blessed.

It means thatI know that I have been blessed by the choices I've made to follow the teachings of our Savior.

It means that I know that families can be together for eternity.

I'm Marie, and I'm a Mormon.

And to quote Sister Ann Dibb - I know it, I live it, I love it.

Check out my new profile at mormon.org. And if you have any questions, just ask!