The Perfect Opportunity

Hello to all,

So, Ryan and I had a few interesting days just recently. He and I made it down to Salt Lake for our scheduled trip to St. Louis for my brother Kurt's homecoming from his mission on Thursday the 27th. Our flight was scheduled for Monday, so we spent some time with Ryan's family for those days prior to the flight out to St. Louis.

Unfortunately, a storm blew through St. Louis from Monday through Tuesday. Ryan and I had to reschedule flights three times. The storm first started with freezing rain and then it turned into a blizzard. However, Ryan and I weren't the only ones affected by the storm. Elder Kurt Marrott's flight to Dallas and then to St. Louis was canceled on Tuesday and so he flew into Salt Lake. He waited to see if he was still good to fly to St. Louis then from Salt Lake, but that flight was also canceled on that day. So lucky us, we got to see Kurt and pick him up from the airport for him to stay at Ryan's family's house so we could then take him to the next flight out on Wednesday.

It was so good to see my brother. He seems to have grown spiritually and I respect that he has made that decision in his life to follow through with his calling. Although he isn't tall in stature, he is a spiritual giant now.

We got to play a game of Settlers of Catan with him, which was fun. That night, my Aunt Jen took us out to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant called Ticci's. Aunt Jen was tickled to see Kurtis, Ryan and I.

Today (Wednesday) we dropped off Kurt at the airport for his flight in the morning. Ryan's and my flight leave today at 4:05. We will then be taken to the Chicago airport and then from there change planes and make our final trip to St. Louis.

I really look forward to seeing my family. I'm glad I had the chance to see Kurt first and have him meet Ryan and his family. I think that worked out well for the storm to allow for that chance to happen.

I will write again soon,

Melissa

Count Down

Hey everyone!

Melissa once more letting you guys know what is up with Ryan and me.

Well there are thirteen more days until Ryan and I fly out to Saint Louis to see my brother come home from off his mission in Roseville, California. I just read one of his last emails that he sends out weekly to give us an update on how he's been doing. First, we will go down to Salt Lake to prep for our flight to Saint Louis. I think we plan to go down a few days early just to see people around town and to make sure we are good for our flight on Monday the 31st. I want to make sure we take plenty of pictures when we are in Saint Louis. I just hope that the weather will cooperate when we travel.

So Ryan had been wanting to get a Playstation 2 so that he can get Kingdom Hearts. Well, we got a used one at a used game store plus Kingdom Hearts. We were able to get the system with two free games. Ryan already owned a Playstation game, so I was okay with it. It has been fairly fun playing, but I guess I am more interested in working on crocheting a blanket and reading.

Well, that is it for the time being.

Melissa out!

Back Home

Hello, Melissa here again.

We said our goodbyes to my in-laws on Friday (New Year's Eve), and would like to say that I am grateful to be related to some great people.

The drive back to Rexburg was fine, meaning the roads were clear enough for good travel. Luckily, before we left Salt Lake, we had purchased new tires for our Honda Accord that would be able to withstand the weather better. This allowed for better maneuverability around Rexburg, especially. Since the plow men around town here only plow during the night the roads don't get cleared that much.

Anyway, that isn't the point. :)

We arrived home to a not so pleasant sight. We left the apartment the way we left it, but it was a mess when we did. Ryan and I had left the living room, kitchen and bedroom in disorder. Our office looked as if it was run through by a tornado. I guess Ryan and I don't have the cleaning gene. However between Friday, Saturday and Sunday we got three of those rooms under control, for the most part. Friday, we managed to clean apartment for guests for a New Year's Eve party. We invited only a few friends, but it was still fun.

Ryan and our guests got to play our new Wii game, Super Mario Bros. It is fun, but kind of irritating when people get in your way or cause problems. We then watched Despicable Me (one of our Christmas presents) with Steve Carrell playing as the main character. I thought it was a cute and funny movie. I believe everyone should see it.

Today was a good day. Ryan and I went to church for an eleven o'clock meeting, which was nice because last year we went at nine to church. We also got to go early for they canceled Sunday School and Priesthood/Relief Society. It was nice spending more of my day with Ryan.

Tomorrow will be an interesting day. Ryan is going in to look for a job with a computer programming company to find work with them. I pray that he is able to get it. I would hate for him to go back to the survey call center he worked at before.

Well, ta-ta for now!

(Don't worry, Ryan will post something soon.)

~Melissa

Our First Christmas

Melissa here!

Ryan and I celebrated our first Christmas together as a married couple. We spent it with Ryan's side of the family in Salt Lake City. When we got to Utah, we went straight to a Muse family Christmas party at Grandma Joann's place. I got to see some more of my extended family on the in-law's side. When we arrived the younger children were doing a gift exchange. Later the older adults (including us Ryan and I) played a little game dealing with White Elephant gifts. Unfortunately we got stuck with a toilet golf game thingy. Ryan and I weren't pleased.

I got to know some of the relatives a little better.

We arrived at Ryan's family's house after the party ended. We were pretty exhausted and went to bed almost immediately.

We hung out with our friends Jennette and Kelly Brown at their new apartment in Midvale, a day or two after coming to Utah. (The days are kind of a blur, sorry.) We Ryan and Kelly played on his hacked Wii console. We later went to see Tron Legacy the movie at the theaters. We had a little dinner at Dairy Queen and then went back to their place to spend a little more time with them. We went home and hung out with Ryan's family before going to bed.

We finally got some Christmas shopping done. I had previously bought Ryan a shirt online on Amazon that was delivered (fortunately) before we left for Utah. We went to Walmart to buy most of our presents for everyone and also at Costco for something for my mother and father in-law and for my sisters in-law as well.

Christmas day came and we had a Belgian waffle breakfast. Jessica and Marissa came over to celebrate with their family. The Muses got ready for a morning of opening presents by first having a telling of the true meaning of Christmas by Derek (my father in-law). We took turns opening presents going from the youngest, Jared, to the oldest. One thing I realized was that it was hard to come up with ideas of what to get this year, because we only have so much room in our apartment and there are things that we already own that keep us happy. We were able to get some new movies like all four of the Shrek movies and all of the Toy Story movies. Ryan got me a nice heart shaped necklace with diamonds and a nice new jewelry box. That shirt that I got Ryan online was a Muse shirt that I got from Amazon.com. I also got him a new Wii remote and the new 007 Golden Eye game for the Wii. From Derek and Emily we got some new Rubbermaid tupperware for our kitchen. From Grandma Joann we got a nice knife block set from her which is something that we definitely needed for our kitchen.

On the day after Christmas, Emily (my mother in-law) invited her side of the family over for another Christmas party. Dorcas, Emily's sister, gave us a belated Wedding gift, which was a nice bread knife. I got to meet many new relatives. Too bad Tegan's (the Muse's dog) dander was getting to me and I took some Benadryl, which caused me to get really sleepy, fast. So I had to leave and get some sleep. It was a good thing that people were beginning to leave so I didn't feel so guilty.

Today, probably will be the last day we stay here for a snow storm comes in tomorrow. If things change, we might stay till Friday, but I hope we don't because Ryan needs to make sure he can get his job and we need to clean our apartment from top to bottom.

This was a unique Christmas that I hope to remember forever.

Well, this is Melissa signing out! TTFN!

Meet the Family

Hello!

We are Ryan and Melissa Muse.

We have been happily married as of April 10th, 2010. Ryan and Melissa are life-long members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and were married in the St. Louis Temple in Missouri.

Ryan hails from South Salt Lake City, Utah and is the oldest of seven children. His parents are Derek and Emily Muse and his siblings are Jessica, Marissa, Sean, Alicia, Amanda, and Jared.

Melissa grew up in West County, St. Louis in the suburbs of Ellisville. She is also the eldest of her family; a family of six. Her parents are Kevin and Valorie Marrott with Kurtis, Aubrie, Scott, Nathan and Amy as her siblings.

Ryan turned 25 as of November 17th and Melissa turned 24 this past June on the 3rd. We both attend Brigham Young University-Idaho. Ryan is studying Computer Science and Melissa is pursuing a degree in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing. She wants to go on to become a Librarian by getting her Master's in Library Science. Ryan will work as a programmer when the job opportunity arises.

Ryan enjoys anything tech related, especially 'shiny' new computers and gadgets. He likes to play video games on Nintendo systems and on the computer. His favorite foods include sushi, pizza and lasagna.

Melissa likes to play the piano, read for pleasure and do crafty things like knit, crochet, and cross-stitch. She likes to play video games with Ryan. Her favorite foods include Chicken Parmesan, lasagna (too) and she has acquired a taste for sushi as well.

We look forward to the day when we will be parents.

Thanks for visiting our site!