THE RING

A Day We Will Always Remember

Let's start with a little info on the planning behind this day....
About a month ago, Desi and I were in Murray at a ring store looking to see what we could find. If you've ever gone into a ring store, and most of you have, you know that there are a lot of choices there! Desi started to look at the rings in the first case which was by Jeff Cooper Designs. The second ring that she found was amazing, and was the one that really caught her eye. It looked so good and we got it out of the case to hold onto as we went across the rest of the store. Let me just say that nothing compared to this ring! Everything else that we saw looked good, but was basically pathetic compared to this Jeff Cooper design. So we both agreed on this ring and decided to start looking at diamonds to put into it. Just watching Desi was confirmation enough that this was the ring that we had to get. Let me tell you, this ring did something to Desi....everytime she saw it, she would get lost in it and couldn't keep her eyes off of it. I knew that this was the ring that I needed to get. We left the store and went on with our day.
As the next couple of weeks went on, Desi and I went to a few rings stores by ourselves to see what we could find and then a few when we were together at Thanksgiving. Choices, choices, choices!!! While talking to Desi everyday after she went to different stores in Vegas, she started to find a few rings that she liked. Then the day came when she went inside T-Bird Jewels and saw the Jeff Cooper ring she fell in love with in Utah. Little did she know, I had just emailed the store to get some information about the ring. Well, I had plans! I had been talking to her mom planning a time to meet her dad and go into Vegas to buy the ring. I drove down after school on Friday, meet her dad and spent some time with her parents that evening and then woke up Saturday morning, bought the ring, and went right back to Provo. And the great part about this whole thing is that Desi thought I was working overtime for a little extra cash. When Monday rolled around, I dropped off the ring to get sized and to also have the diamond I bought placed in it and have it ready by Friday.
As a few of you know, I had gone through plan after plan trying to think of how to propose to the girl that I am going to spend my life with. With the help of my parents, the idea was finalized to propose at Apple Hill California where we were going to be Friday night.
If none of you have been before, you should go. It's a great place to visit. Apple Hill is an area in the California foothills of the Sierra Nevada's where there are acres upon acres of apple farms. Each farm has it's own barn and shops and what not but there was one farm that had the perfect location where I wanted to ask.

We get to High Hill Ranch and start to walk around the pond that they have there and make our way over to the picnic tables on the edge of the hill that has a great view. While being extremely nervous and unbelievably excited all at the same time, we started to talk and look through pictures on one of the benches. When the moment came, I pulled the box out of my back pocket and made my way to one knee. Looked up at Desi and asked her if she would marry me. Before she took off the bow that was tied to the box to look at the ring, she started to cry a little and said Yes!!!! I placed the Jeff Cooper ring that she loved from the start on her hand and held the one that I love. It was an amazing moment and it couldn't have gone more perfectly.
I love you Desi Keep your Calendars Open for July 31, 2009 and August 1, 2009!!

You can thank my mom and sister for the pictures. They snuck around the farm, behind trees and peeked through fences to take these, thank you!

Lemon Heads

I'm pretty sure this is Ryan's grandma's favorite story so far.... The weekend that Ryan and Camryn came down to Vegas we went out to lunch and I double dared Ryan to suck on a lemon! Ya. I'm pretty sure we all got our work out from laughing at his facial expression. Well I guess if you want Ryan to do something all you have to do is double dare him.

Oh ya. Did I mention that I got him to do it twice. Well at least this time he wasn't doing it by himself.

Yea! I found out how to work the blog lol. Well hi everyone it's me Desi. I thought I would get on here and tell you about the last date Ryan and I went on.

Well as you all know we are doing the long distance relationship right now which sucks but luckily we have seen each other just about every weekend since the beginning of October which is great. And Yea! He is moving to Vegas on Christmas weekend.

Well last month I came up to Utah and it was Ryan's turn to plan our day together. Man..... did he do a good job. Well to start the day we took my mom out to breakfast so she could meet Ryan! We went to Sill's in Layton. Sill's is a family restaurant where my mom, aunts, cousins and myself go every time we are up there to get "scones". I was so excited to take Ryan there because he said he has never had a scone before. Well, he ended up getting pancakes and the waitress tried to talk him out of getting a full stack and just a half because they were so BIG. Ryan said he could eat it and well.... he didn't lol. They were HUGE. So we packed them up for to go! After that we were off to Salt Lake.

First we went to dinner at the Melting Pot (if you haven't been there you need to go. It's really yummy!) Ryan's best friend Arden and his date joined us at Dinner. The four of us had a great time. After dinner we all walked to the Energy Solution Arena, where we met up with Ryan's roommate Christian and his wife to be Rachel. I was so excited to be there, we were there to see COLDPLAY!!! OMG they are amazing live! I recommend seeing them in concert.

Overall it was a great weekend!

An Announcement Unlike Any Other

This past Thanksgiving weekend brought a great time to see family but also a special announcement for Desi and I. We planned to announce our plans for marriage! Well gather around children and let me tell you a story.......

Desi and I have been planning on telling my parents together, instead of me just telling them. Our plan was to take them out to dinner or ice cream and casually lead into the conversation. Olive Garden ended up being the location for the grand announcement! We had planned on me telling them and agreed that we should talk about me moving to Vegas first before talking about our plans for marriage. Well, this is what happened. After we sit down, we wait for that moment of silence where I can jump in and start talking, but it just wouldn't come. Then it happens, the perfect moment of silence to bring it all up. I start to talk about how I am going to move to Vegas right after Christmas and how I have a job lined up and everything. It started out great, I had a huge smile on my face and Desi's hand holding mine. All of that changes....the more I say, the more the mood changes. Dad gets quiet, my smile fades, dad gets mad, my smile disappears. Grandma starts to look uncomfortable and mom is just as quiet as the rest of us. We start to choke are food down as little comments are made in awkwardness until eventually dad just leaves the restaurant. I cant even begin to explain how I felt at that moment of an announcement so important to Desi and I and then to have everything crash and burn in our faces. And then to look over and see Desi, the girl I love, in tears as we sit there in the booth was well, absolutely crushing. Mom asks if there was anything else to announce and we tell her that we are planning on getting married. After mom goes out to try and calm dad down and get him back in the restaurant, I go out also. The way it all came out, made it sound that I was leaving school to move to Vegas and be close to Desi. We thought it would have been a little more obvious that we were getting married but I guess we thought wrong. After taking a minute to talk to dad and clear things up, a hug and some tears of excitement filled all our eyes. Then grandma and Desi came out of the Olive Garden and we had a big group hug as the excitement built more and more!! We went home and told the rest of the relatives and spread our excitement. This news has spread like a wildfire as Grandpa has made calls and told everyone before I could of the news. An official engagement will come soon and I will keep you all updated.

What a Great time of The Year!

So this is going to be an ongoing post for the next couple of weeks. Mainly because there are a great couple of weeks coming up. Last week my sister and I drove down to Vegas for the weekend. Desi and I got to spend the weekend together and had a terrific time on the strip and around town. And yes, there are pictures at the bottom of this blog post! But we had a great time....we started out by taking Grandma Gloria out to her favorite, Red Lobster, where she got to meet Desi and get to know her. The we all split up and Desi and I headed to the strip. With me coming down to Vegas....that means Desi planned the day and just like I did to her, kept everything a secret. Well here's what she planned. :)
We started out by heading over to the Venitian where we walked through the canal shops and made our way out to the front where we rode the Gondola!! The next stop was the Wax Museum! If you have never gone to a wax museum, GO!! It is totally awesome and a ton of fun. The people that have been created look so real and you can even touch them and pose next to them for pictures. We met up with Cam and grandma and went to Jamba Juice and then headed over to the bowling lanes where I won!! Who would have though huh?! lol
After that we took Cam down to the strip with us where we went to a Gelato Shop in the Bellagio and watched the Fountains for awhile. Then it was back to the house to relax! It was a great weekend and nothing could have gone more perfectly!
This weekend Desi is coming up here for the weekend to go to the concert I told her about last week and then the week after is Thanksgiving! Im planning on coming down to St. George for the weekend and will get to see a few of y'all. You will also get to meet Desi! She is going to come up from Vegas and stay the weekend with us. I'm excited for y'all to meet her! Well, I'll keep puting pictures up as they come. Love y'all!

Philosophy

Welcome back my friends and family!

So I am sending out a call to anyone and everyone that reads this blog.....

I am in serious need of some help. My Western Religions teacher has assigned us a 10 page paper to do by finals. So let me tell you my problem; I have no idea what to do it on. We can write this paper on anything that pertains to Western Religions. So here is where y'all come in. I would like to get your opinion on a good topic for this paper. So go ahead and leave a comment on this blog with your suggestion, and if you already see a good one on there, give it your support. Thank you for all of your help!

Love,

Ryan

What in the world!!!!

So basically the title for this blog has absolutely nothing to do with what will most likely be written in here. When you come to this world class award winning blog site, you read something that isn't pre-meditated at all. You might be thinking to yourself, "Oh no, it can't be, he must put time into this." Ya, not at all. I turn the computer on and just blab on and on and on.

So lets take a minute to evaluate the last few days....First off, it's November the 5th which means two things.....

#1-Ever seen the movie "V For Vendetta?" If you haven't, you should. It might possibly be one of the greatest movies around. The movie takes place in the near future over in England. Just a few minutes into the movie you realize that this isn't going to be your average movie. You know the guys that did the Matrix movies? They did this movie also and it's based on one of those graphic novel comic book thingys. As you can tell, I don't know what those really are. The character "V" is a man in a mask that has a vision of revolution. In the first few minutes of the movie there is a speech...not just any speech, but a speech about today, the Fifth of November.

"Remember remember, the fifth of November. The Gun Powder Treason and Plot. I know of no reason why the Gun Powder treason should ever be forgot...."

I love that speech, and the dialogue that is in the movie. So if you want to know the rest of the speech, see the movie! The other speech given by the character "V" takes place maybe 5 minutes into it. He gives it right after he saves the character "Eve", played by Natalie Portman. This speech he gives stands out from anything you will ever see in a movie. Why? Well, the words he uses in this speech, which goes on for about 2 minutes, all start with 'V.' Go see it, you'll love it.

#2-Yesterday was election day. As we all know by now, President Elect Obama won by a HUGE amount. And well, I'm not going to comment on my feelings about this election and there are a few reasons why. First off, I didn't vote this time around. And by not voting, I don't feel that I have the right to complain about what has happened. If I had voted, then I would have more of a right to complain or voice my opinion about yesterdays history making events. The other reason is, well, um, I'm just sick and tired of hearing everyone else talk about it and I don't want to add to it. What happens, happens, it's life! And just think about this, if you hate Obama or think the "World is now going to hell in a hand basket" because of this election, then start praying for this whole citizenship issue to play out and prove he isn't a citizen. If you don't know about this whole issue, go to "factcheck.org" and search it up. There's basically a lawsuit out against President Obama claiming that he isn't even a U.S. Citizen.

Next topic! Thanksgiving is right around the corner y'all. What are every one's plans??? I think our family will be hanging out up here in "Happy Valley", and I have heard a lot of you are going to be in St. George with grandpa. No matter the place, it will be fun for us all.
Next thing coming up.....BETH IS COMING HOME SOON!! I think Aunt Linda said 29 more days. It's crazy to think she is almost home. I find myself remembering my mission and thinking where I was this time last year and it's actually pretty crazy to think of where I was then and where I'm at now and how long ago that seems to be. I'm excited for Beth's homecoming as I am sure all of you are.

And the next topic! (My personal favorite) I had pretty dang good surprise this past weekend!! Let me give you a little info on it. ;)
Her name is Deserae, and a few of you have heard about her. Her and I have known each other for about 2 years. She started writing me on my mission and we've been talking ever since then. She was up here a few weekends ago where we met each other in person for the first time and we had a terrific day together. Then this past week, with the help of my roommate and her best friend, she drove up from Vegas where she lives and surprised me! As she and all my roommates who were in on it can say, I was shocked! We had a great time together. A couple of you know that we have a secretive date planned in a few weeks and I'm sorry I can't go into more detail for y'all about what it is, but she might read this and that would ruin the surprise. So, if you want details, call me and I'll tell you. Once I can figure out how to put pictures up on here, I will. And there will be a ton of pictures of everything from this past weekend to the summer fishing trip, and maybe even a talking Llama. Desi and I bowling last Saturday. Saying goodbye on Sunday when she had to head home to Vegas.

The Family.....

Ryan: Well I'm obviously going to go first since I am creating and managing this thing. Let's just start out and say life is good! I'm still working at Convergys and am in the process of making some changes there. Since June, I have been working on the Directv project where I sat in my spiffy little grey/blue cubicle and answered phones all day. It by far isn't the best job out there in the world, but it's the one that I've got and it pays the bills, so I can't really complain. Starting November 3 though, I am being transfered to the AT&T U-Verse project where I will be answering phones, yet again, and doing tech support. I'm real excited for the change in work type, but I am dreading the 2 weeks of 3:30-Midnight training classes that I have to take for it. It wouldn't be half bad if I didn't have school.
I'm right now in my second semester at UVU and am pretty happy with the way things are going. I've loaded up this semester with a total of 19 credits. And let me tell y'all, NEVER take 19 credits. It's horrible!! My first class starts everyday at 7 am, which I barely crawl to in the mornings. If y'all remember or heard, high school and basically just school in general hasn't been a strong point in my life......things are different now and things are good. I'm finishing up a horrid 2 weeks of midterms right now that have consisted of 4-6 hours of sleep per night and more eggs and top ramen than any human should ever eat!
I'm a little lost right now at what to major in, mainly due to the fact that I am planning on going to Dental School in the future. After sitting with one of my counselors, I learned that I can pretty much major in anything I want to because Dental Schools don't look at your major, they focus on how well you did in the Pre-Med program. So I've declared Religious Studies with a minor in Philosophy. I'm real excited for the classes that I need to take for these once I get my generals done.
Now don't get me wrong, UVU is a great school, but I dont want to graduate from here. I've thought about transferring to BYU next fall and finishing everything up there. After sitting down with a counselor a few weeks back at BYU and looking at the classes they offer for my major, I might be changing things around yet again. BYU offers Religious Studies as a major, but it's more of a Church oriented teaching major. That's great and all, but not the path that I'm sure I want to take. One other thing is, BYU requires that you take a language before you get a degree. As y'all know from knowing me for so long and also by just reading this thing, I struggle with the English language enough, how the heck am I gonna do a second language? Serving the Lord in the South for two years probably didn't help that much either, hence all the y'all's, fixin's, and just horrible english you hear or read from me. :) One possibility that I have thought about, is taking Arabic as my language of study. It's a language and culture that really excites me and interests me.
There is plenty of time for me to decide and I'll keep y'all posted on what's happening. Rock Climbing with my roommate Christian and his fiance Rachel. Golfing like always!! Duck Creek Fishing!

The Jist of It All

Hey Guys! Welcome to the first ever blog/page about the Muir family. so let's just forget all the mumbo jumbo of blogs and what not and just jump into the family. As y'all know there a four of us. There use to be five of us, if you include the dog we once had....but that's a different story that we wont get into today. If any of y'all want some more info about that, talk to Rod! Well, take a look around and enjoy. I know it's no talking Llama, but it is a giant Indian Chief that hangs on our wall!!