It's Christmas time in the City ....

It's been a crazy December for us-- we've been sick pretty much the whole month, but luckily on the weekends we have all felt good enough to get out and try to enjoy our Christmas in Chicago! Here are a few photos of what we've been up to: 

Lots of PJ time being sick....

Ryan working from home on Fridays-- and getting off at 1pm!

So excited for the trains at the Chicago Botanic Garden

Hunter was obsessed. 

Isn't it amazing? They recreated Chicago with plants and artistic wood interpretations.

the beautiful poinsettia room!

Our little home and Christmas tree!! Dressed in our Christmas Sunday best!

Friends came to visit from England! Elle and Hunter are just 5 days apart and love to play together. 

Hunter loves his little nativity. 

Being silly playing on Amazon boxes... Merry Christmas!

My little cutie pie. 

Hope you enjoyed the photos! Merry Christmas from The Merrills!! 

More Family Travels- Virginia and Maryland

We love any excuse to see our families, but a BYU Football game and family is just icing on the cake. When BYU Scheduled to play UVA, we knew we would be at the game and it was such a treat to have (almost*) our whole family together (long story, but Brandon my brother in law's flight was cancelled and we were SO bummed he couldn't make it!!!). It was so fun to spend the weekend with my family and even have a little family rivilry going on (My brother in law Marc goes to UVA).

Hunter and I went a few days early to get some extra time with Grandma and Papa. We went to Baltimore for some American History at Fort McHenry and then went for crabcakes (yum!).

Then we went out for Neapolitan Pizza at il Canale and off to the Nat's game.

Hunter and Papa. 

Luckily we had a whole row to ourselves! 

Then we picked up Ryan from the airport and headed to Virginia for the game. Tarin and Marc were gracious enough to give us their bed for the night... which turned out to be a good thing because Hunter loved sleeping in their bed!

Seriously, I don't know how he didn't wake up when the sun came up and we started getting ready!

We made BYU mint brownies for the tailgating and then headed off to the game!

Hunter and Ryan

Excited for the game! This was before the rain delay.... 

Hunter and I

How we spent most of the game... hiding for cover from the crazy rain storm! Caidence was so tired.... 

That weekend we wanted to celebrate the August birthdays as a family so Tarin made a delicious banana cake for Hunter and Charlotte! Hunter may have been more excited than Charlotte... 

Hunter loved it. 

So good!

Matthew was excited for his own dessert... 

He loves his mama. 

Hunter and I decided to stay a few extra days after the game to squeeze in more Hunter and Daniel time. These two became the best of buds. But only after lots of torturing each other! Its so fun to have cousins around the same age.

At the park. 

Cousins gotta hug. 

Eating all their meals together. 

Sharing toys. 

Exploring the gardens. 

Giving each other rides. 

Checking out the neighbors dogs. 

And then before we knew it, it was time to go home and reunite with Ryan! Traveling solo is always an adventure, but luckily the flight from DC to Chicago is quick and easy and Hunter is a pretty easy going kid. 

Just hanging around. 

We feel so blessed we can travel and see our families as much as we do! Can't wait to see them again soon!

Yellowstone

We had a really great summer full of action-packed family fun!

One of the trips we went on was to Yellowstone National Park -- which is somewhere I've always wanted to go. I took a million pictures but decided to just share a few faves....

Date night!

This is bear country!

The creepy cowboy in Cody Wyoming. 

My morning run. 

pretty wildflowers. 

Yellowstone Lake. 

Old Faithful. Which, learned isn't as faithful as we thought. 

Family photo. 

Buffalo or Bison?

Bison crossing. 

In the wild. (as wild as a national park gets...)

The hike was worth it. 

My little snuggle bums.

Classic family photo. 

A stunning rainbow to end our time in the park. 

I loved Yellowstone! I can't wait to go back and spend more time in the park and hiking the trails. It was a great family vacay and perfect way to unplug!