The Merrill Bunnies

Hello Smylie family!

Lilon and I have been wanting to introduce ourselves ever since we saw a link to this blog on Ariana's blog page. I've never met most of you and have only spoken with a few more, but I am glad to be a part of this family spread so far across the world.





I am Daniel Merrill, son of Dinah (Smylie) and Kenneth Merrill. I am 26 and am currently finishing my undergraduate degree in physics at Brigham Young University. That is in Provo, Utah, USA if you didn't know. Life is crazy as I am trying to finish school in April 2009 and am preparing to go on to graduate studies. I've been doing research since last summer in optic, molecular, and atomic physics, specifically in the area of atom interferometry. If you don't know what that is, you can sympathize with most of the people (outside my physics program) I try and explain my research to. Lilon likes to liken my research to bunnies. It helps her understand me.

My wife Lilon is 27. She completed her masters degree this past summer in the area of Food Science. It's not dietetics, culinary arts, or nutrition. It is more like food engineering. She knows how food works in a recipie and she knows how to repeat it on an industrial scale. She is a very good cook too, though. She loves plants. Last summer we were blessed with enough space to grow corn, lettuce, peppers, and tomatoes of various kinds. I was amazed to see things grow, I having never kept any plant alive for very long. This summer Lilon wants to be more ambitious. She has prepared herbs, and squash, and lots of other seeds for us to plant. I love the fresh produce and I miss tomatoes when winter comes.





Lilon is currently employed as full-time mom to our 10-month-old daughter, Janae. Janae is crawling and learning to pull herself up on tables and such, which has Lilon and I racing ahead of her as we try to remove breakables and or anything we don't want her to grab and stick in her mouth. Her arm seems to grow by the day as things that were out of reach yesterday are well within grabbing distance today. However, Janae is also a great source of joy in our family as we get to watch and help her grow. We love her dearly.

Lilon is also working at being full-time pregnant. She is 4 months along now with our second child, who has been dubbed "Little Bean." Little Bean's current favorite pass-times are making Lilon sick and wiggling. We don't know Little Bean's gender yet.

Well that is our family. We have strong ties of faith on both sides and we are greatful for parents and grandparents who taught their families to love the Lord and eachother. We have our own blog which family are welcome to read. You just have to send me an email and I can invite you to it.