VA is for Lovers Post #1: Pumpkins

Mom and I found this great little General Store & pumpkin patch in Ruckersville (does that scream country, or what?). We went crazy for pumpkins and gords and anything that would look good on her front porch! Its times like these that make me miss have a house, and a front porch to decorate.

We had high hopes for carving pumpkins and making our own pumpkin pie filling... but sadly those things didn't get accomplished on this trip! I'll have to do them on my own at home. But look how great our pumpkins/gords/etc look in front of mom and dad's house!!

Virginia is for Lovers.

We are back from Virginia, and I have lots to share with you!! Mom and dad kept us SO BUSY while we were there-- they wiped us out a few times! It was so fun to explore Virginia and spend so much quality time with mom and dad. I've got a busy work-week ahead but look for some posts from me this week!!!

xoxo
Kiley

Home is where the Heart is.

I am in Charlottesville, VA this week visiting my parents new home. They recently relocated from Bakersfield, CA to Charlottesville earlier this year. My parents were born and raised and raised us in the Bakersfield area, so needless to say it is an adjustment to move to the other side of the country!! There are many challenges that you face in moving, and I admire my parents in how they have embraced this move and made the most of it.

It's kind of weird to be in their home and look out the window to see tall trees and dense leaves instead of roses and flowers and a pool! Its hard to realize this is now their home, but one thing I have learned is that the same sweet spirit is here.

Mom and I went for a morning run and it was so gorgeous. I loved watching the leaves fall from the trees, and looking out to see the beautiful blue ridge mountains.

Fall is here and I am loving it.

October = Fall. 

For weeks, everyone has been talking about fall. I guess I just don't consider September to be "fall" yet (that could be, because I was married in September and it was definitely 100 degrees!!)

At any rate, I've been watching for the signs of fall: aka: the trees in Chicago to change in color, and this week I finally got what I was looking for! The very first signs of fall, on October 1st. Well, at least in a few of the trees. They are taking their sweet time, but I am fully confident in a week or two, fall colors will be abundant in Chicago and I can't wait!

Here are some photos from my mid-day jog through the city out to the shoreline. What a gorgeous gorgeous day. It just doesn't get any better than this.

Tender Moments

There are moments in a marriage where you husband does something so cute or so funny or so thoughtful that you just smile and think "Ah, my husband loves me". For me it doesn't have to be grand gestures, just simple ones like getting an email with the subject line:

phew you can breath easy now honey

And the body of the email only including this link:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2010-09-27-pumpkin-shortage-over_N.htm


You see, my husband knows how much I LOVE to make anything and everything Pumpkin in the fall. He knows that if there is a pumpkin shortage it is a CRISIS and I will definitely argue with the stock boys at Super Target demanding an explanation for NO PUMPKIN on the shelves in October. He knows that my life will not be complete in the fall if I can't make and share delicious pumpkin treats.

So, thank you, my sweet Ryan Merrill for informing me that the Pumpkin Shortage is OVER!! Hallelujah!

I can now rest easy and make anything and everything my little pumpkin heart desires. I think I will start with
Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies, then pumpkin chocolate chip bread, then pumpkin pancakes, then pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin roll, pumpkin muffins, any other pumpkin treats I should know about???

We are Pioneers

There are moments in our lives when we think "wow, I am really blazing the trail here" but I think now more than ever we have that feeling. A few weeks ago it was announced that our ward (the church congregation we meet with each Sunday based on geographic location), The Logan Square Ward, would be split. We were told that where we lived, would be in the boundaries for the new Lake Shore 1st Ward. The purpose of the split is to "Bring more souls unto Christ". You see, before we were split, our ward had approximately 800 members (!!!), with 200+ members actively coming each Sunday. With this many people in our congregation, it left a lot of people to "get lost in the shuffle" and less focus on each individual person. Now, with two smaller wards created from the one, the ward is much more manageable, and we can increase our efforts to focus on the one. 

The unique thing about this new ward is that it is the "Downtown Chicago Ward"-- everyone that lives downtown now attends this ward. I think our leaders would like to see a greater LDS presence downtown. Eventually, we will meet in a building right downtown, but while we are in this transition period, we actually meet in a schoolhouse. This is quite different for many of us who have always gone to church in a building like this:

















And now we go to church in this building, the Newberry Academy: 

I think its exciting to meet in a unique place such as a schoolhouse. I do miss the pictures of the Savior, and the sweet spirit that is found in an LDS Chapel, as well as the soft pews... but this gives us the opportunity to create that spirit ourselves, as ward members and work harder to create that spirit each week as we meet there. It reminds me of all the young wards out there throughout the world that meet in "non-traditional chapels". Sometimes they meet in someones house, or a small tiny building; not everyone is blessed to have their own chapel. Wards around the world are working hard to build up The Kingdom of God, so that their numbers will grow and they might one day have a chapel. We are now a part of that group-- the modern-day pioneers. The church is the same no matter where in the world you are, or what building you meet in. This schoolhouse will become our home for our ward each week as we meet there.

Welcome to our World

I like to think this blog gives some insight to our world, and our life. I probably don't really capture it well enough though -- mostly just highlighting the adventures we go on with subsequent photos. Hopefully I can try to capture what real life is like at the Merrill Household.

Like how good it feels to finally feel we have a "home" again-- and that Chicago is home. There are certain moments when I have realized this like walking hand in hand through the loop on our way home from a concert, or baseball game, or any adventure that we go on. Walking into our apartment and knowing that this is our little haven from the world. I also get these moments when I am asked on the street where something is, and I am instantly able to give directions. I am able to navigate easily in this crazy place.

The best feeling, however, is the feeling of Ryan and I being "us" again. After a summer of questions, stress, and change, we were both under a lot of pressure. We tried to be ourselves, but something was different as we were trying to make sense of the recent events and upcoming challenges. Now that we have all of that behind us, I can happily say that we are back to our happy, less-stressed selves. We are able to have a casual date night and enjoy sleeping in on a Saturday or two. We've also been able to take our bikes out for a semi-long ride, something we haven't done in months. We're settling back into life with new challenges but at least the change (for now) has subsided.

I'm excited for this new chapter in our lives and taking advantage of all that this new opportunity offers us.

Labor Day

Who doesn't love a great American Holiday, like Labor Day?? I checked the weather, and it was supposed to be a beautiful day, 80+ degrees and sunny. I convinced Ryan we needed at least 1 more day at the beach lake this summer, so we packed a picnic and headed to a new beach, a little further north of the city. When we got there, we were amazed to find TONS of free parking (when you live in the city this is an AMAZING find). We grabbed our gear and headed to the sand.






To my disappointment, it was really windy and not exactly sunny. We had big plans to kayak on the lake, or even jetski, but the extreme wind conditions forced the kayak rentals to be closed, and we didn't last long enough to stay for our jetski rental time slot. It wasn't that warm, it was super windy (do you see my hair in this picture?). We decided after an hour or so that we had enough of the beach.



This did not end our Labor Day adventures. We decided to explore a neighboring city, Evanston, just a few miles north of where we were, and home to Northwestern University Campus is full of old buildings and churches so we walked around to get a closer look. Check it out:







We finally came across Kellogg. Needless to say, I was not impressed with the building. But you know what they say... its what's on the inside that counts...









I saw a sign for a lighthouse, so we kept driving until we found it:




We put our Dora Explorer caps on and found a path that lead from the lighthouse out to this:


I was definitely out in the lead of this expedition:








We checked out Ryan Field (where their football team plays) and then decided to head home for a classic Labor Day BBQ and college football.





BBQ Chicken, hot dogs, baked beans, potato salad, watermelon.


And to top it off: Goose Island Root Beer (yes we went to 3 stores until we found it!) So worth it.


We always get to end our days with a beautiful sunset.

Free Concert for Chicago

My new favorite summer activity in Chicago is going to the free concerts held at Millennium park in the Pritzger Pavillion. Nothing can beat gathering with 10,000 other Chicagoans on any given beautiful evening to listen to great music, and picnic on the great lawn.




The concerts run everyday throughout August, and then gradually fade off in September. The last concert of the season was the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) on Sunday 9/19/2010. I was determined to go, not really because of CSO, but because I wanted to go to one last concert. The last few times we have gone, the lawn has been packed, but we have always found a way to squeeze ourselves in among the crowd.

not this week

As we were approaching the park, we noticed lots of people walking AWAY from the great lawn. "uh oh" I thought. This is not a good sign!!

As we got closer to the great lawn, we found ourselves amongst the crowds and noticed many people camping out with their lawn chairs and blankets on outlying green space. Soon we found ourselves elbow to elbow with thousands of other Chicagoans trying to get onto the lawn and hear the concert.





See that area underneath the poles? THATS the great lawn. It holds 10,000 people. We counted at least an additional 10,000 people at the concert outside of the great lawn.





This guy was prepared:



Traffic control had already gated off the great lawn and restricted people from entering. WOW. I have never seen so many people at a concert!! It took forever just to navigate through the crowds, and finally we settled on a spot where we could at least sit down and hear the music. Our spot turned out to be a great little find, because Ryan was able to use a tree as a backrest, and I was able to use Ryan as my backrest :)




The music was absolutely gorgeous. I am amazed by the clarity and exquisite sound that this Frank Gehry outdoor concert 'hall' makes. I also reconnected with my passion for classical music. It is so beautiful. I loved watching the other CSO-lovers in the crowd closing their eyes, and nodding their head, in sync with the beat. My favorite song they played was Romeo & Juliet by Tchaikovsky.

This was our view:






During intermission we figured out what the "Festa MUTI" pins were all about. CSO just signed on a new world-famous conductor, MUTI. This performance was his first official performance as the CSO conductor. Apparently he is a big deal-- who knew!


The pavillion is beautiful at night:



As the concert ended, and the crowds started heading toward the street, we heard a loud noise and realized there were fireworks going off all around the park! What a great surprise and great way to celebrate the end of an incredible evening, and the end of an incredible summer.





As we walked home, hand in hand, I found myself excited for next year's concerts in the park, and picnic dinners.
What's your favorite summer activity?