Again With the Taking Too Long to Post Anything New...

To the Muse fans out there (no I don't mean the band, tehee):

Missa here! So people may be wondering what Ryan and I have been up to recently. Well, since last I posted, LOTS of things have occurred.

First, I want to mention that Ryan and I are now both still in school, yes. However, I will be graduating come December, awesome, right?!  Ryan has a couple more semesters to go before he too will say goodbye to BYU -- Idaho.

This past winter, we moved out of our old basement apartment and lived at Ryan's family's house for the duration of Winter semester. While there, Ryan completed his internship at a programming job in Lehi, UT. We got to visit regularly with our good friends Kelly and Jennette (and their cute daughter Kadree and their fun dog Link the husky). It was nice to get to know the Salt Lake area better, not including the bad drivers that seem to pop up often around there...

Ryan wasn't the only one employed; I also found a job at Dillard's and got to meet and work with some pretty good people. I worked in the Home department so I got to make up bed displays and sell some fragile merchandise in the dishware section. Bubble wrap was a must have. A bonus was that I got a work-out from lugging comforters around.

It was nice staying in the Muse home for our time there. Ryan and I stayed in Jared's room (Ryan's youngest sibling) while he bunked in the same room with Mandy (one of Ryan's sisters). Dad and Mom Muse were happy to have us there and I hope that we weren't too much of a burden.

Once April rolled around, we had to depart back to Rexburg to continue our schooling for another semester. We moved into an apartment complex off of Main Street. We managed to get a spot here and it was a struggle to do apartment shopping long distance. The place is well enough, except for it having a reduced amount of storage than our last apartment, which is still an adjustment to this day. Additionally, it was another challenging semester for the both of us; I managed to pass my classes (not with flying colors, however) and Ryan got by as well.

I turned 27 in June and had a wonderful birthday party with friends, old and new.  One friend spent a long time making and decorating my cake which represented the Clow Card symbol found on the back of cards from the anime, Cardcaptor Sakura. She did a wonderful job. For a present, Ryan and I picked out a leopard spotted gecko from PetSmart. We've named him Reggie Rex. Ryan thought it was fun to name him that since the name resembles a phrase used in coding. He's been a good little gecko.

The semester ended and we've currently been enjoying a break before school starts again in a couple of weeks.

At the end of finals week, my family was able to come up to Rexburg to pick up my sister Aubrie and take her home to St. Louis. Mom and Dad helped me a lot to clean up my apartment and to get my car in better working order. We went down with them to Utah so that they could visit my brother Kurt who's going to school to BYU in Provo. It was his birthday that week, and we got to celebrate his birthday with him. It was probably the first time in years I got to celebrate with him on his birthday.

Later, we went on a fun outing with our friends, Jennette and Kelly to Yellowstone last month during our break and got to do some camping with them. We had tents and over the fire cooking along with playing a bit of Munchkin (a fun card game). We got to see sights like the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and the geyser trail up by Old Faithful. We also almost had a run in with a bison in their van we drove in. Fun times and lots of pictures.

That's a pretty good wrap up of what has been going on with Ryan and I for the past few months.  I will try to keep a better update on us.

Until next time, everyone take care!

I am SOOO BAD! Forgive Me!

To our faithful friends who are interested in our lives... I am so completely sorry about my lack of responsibility to keeping this updated. Please forgive me! :) There really is no way I could sanely retrace everything that has happened over the months I last posited. So I will kind of focus on certain events that have recently occurred or will occur.

We have since moved as of August to a new place in Rexburg. We are now in a basement apartment of a house belonging to an elderly couple. It's more spacious even though it is technically like a Bat Cave. A unique part of the place is that our bathroom has metallic, floral decorated wallpaper. It's hilarious, also considering that comes with a pink bathtub and sink. :)

Ryan:

Currently in school for the Fall semester. Working part time at what is currently called "Teriyaki Express" and will soon be called something else soon. He has been working with the food and primarily the computer systems to make sure that everything is in working order.

He celebrated his 26th birthday on the 17 of this month. He is lucky to have such good friends who care about him. Thanks to Ariel Benham, he was able to have a nice "Stargate" themed cake. I was with her when we picked out the cake mix: Carrot cake.

Was is a delicious cake to eat? In the words of Teal'c: "Indeed".

We learned some weeks back that his brother Sean will be soon leaving in the beginning of January for a mission representing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Oakland/San Francisco, California Mission. We will actually be departing Saturday afternoon for Salt Lake to be in town for his farewell on Sunday.

In his free-time Ryan has been enjoying playing Minecraft on the computer and I hope he will get to spend some time reading Inheritance, the last "Eragon" book, which is something I got him for his birthday.

Melissa:

Took the Fall semester off to work. I am currently employed at the Chevron/Burger King gas station just off the first Rexburg exit. I have been working since approx. September. The hardest thing about that job is that on most of my shifts I work in the morning which means I need to be there a quarter before 6. I work the Chevron side, so I work the convenience store and the gas pumps, to make sure that people are getting their gas and snacks (and unfortunately their tobacco and alcohol, for some).

My sister Aubrie had put in her mission call and she has been assigned to serve in the Mesa, Arizona mission, beginning January 4th. Ryan and I are so excited for her. And in addition to Aubrie serving a mission, my brother Scott also put his papers in and received his call to serve in the Los Angeles, California mission (Spanish speaking). He reports in the beginning of February. It's cool because Sean, Scott and Kurt (my other brother) have and will all have served California missions.

My parents decided that the Marrott family should spend at least one more time together for Christmas before Aubrie and Scott leave for missions. Ryan and I will fly out Christmas Eve and return the 5th of January to Rexburg. It will be a nice getaway. It will be bittersweet because I am not sure how much more I will be able to see of my parents and siblings over the next few years. Growing up really puts things into perspective.

Thanks for all the support. I hope to get more followers over time!

Until next time,

~Melissa

Long Time, No Post

It is the 19th of May and I neglected to post about Ryan's and my first Anniversary. I hope that I can catch up from there to what is happening now.

Highlights of our first Anniversary: Ryan and I went to the Rexburg Temple to do some Sealings. We had a good time and the people who helped out were great. They congratulated us on us being married for a year. I actually got to reunite with one of my former religion teachers on campus who now works as a Sealer at the Temple. Afterwards we went to dinner at Applebee's. However, when we finished eating, I drank too much lemonade and felt sick going out to the car. Ryan wondered if I needed to throw up, but I didn't think I needed to. We got to the car and I found that as soon as I sat down, I told Ryan to not move the car. I opened the car door and puked on the parking lot. I had three waves of it and then I was good. I had no further problems after that for the rest of the night. Other than that, we really enjoyed our special day.

School started on the 19th of April for the both of us. Things started off pretty well except for the fact that it took a while for me to get my financial aid in. Thankfully, I was able to get it.

We find that one of our new favorite places to go is Kiwi Loco for when we want frozen yogurt. What is also exciting is that Rexburg now has a frozen custard shop that sells burgers too called Nelson's Frozen Custard. I miss frozen custard from Missouri.

Our friend Perry had a boxing fight night at the gym he goes to. We were invited to go. I think he did well and from what he said, he was glad to feel like he got beaten around a little bit and that he was able to put up a good fight with his opponent.

Last weekend we went to Salt Lake to stay with Ryan's family. We were able to get Ryan a new pair of shoes that were badly needed. We also went with Emily, my mother in-law to lunch and she later took Ryan, Mandy, Jared and I to dinner at the pizza place where Marissa works. Marissa was able to join us for dinner too.

Ryan and I have been watching a show called Smallville, which is about the beginnings of Superman. The series finale was last Friday, which made Ryan's family and Perry both happy and sad. We need to finish up season 9 and go through season 10 in order to see the series finale.

We are now a month into the semester, and things are going quite well. Ryan is currently taking

16 credits and I am taking 12, but I hope that getting a job soon will be in my future.

Well that is it for me now. I hope to keep up with posting on this blog more often.

Take care everyone!

Melissa

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!