The Mellors Blog

Just a quick update and post on our last big visit to Kansas City this summer.  First, Traci just passed her first year mark at the hospital and working as a nurse!  She had her evaluation and got nothing but compliments!  Just a couple more years and Traci can have the experience and the next step in the education to get to be what she has dreamed of being in nursing.

We just went down to Kansas City one last weekend this summer to spend time with the Caresia Clan, especially Justin as he prepares to leave for Ecuador for a two year mission.  We drove down on Thursday night after Traci got off work so we could maximize our time with them.  Because it was sunset and starting to get dark, the bugs were out in mass quantity.  Such quantity that it sounded like it was raining on our windshield, but it was actually the bugs hitting our windshield.  When we got to KC, Courtney, Marjean, and Justin were still up waiting for us and we all hung out for a bit.  On Friday, we got up, chilled at the house, did a bit of shopping and then went to the Royals game on Friday night.  Matt got to see the Royals pitcher that he has been wanting to see, Zach Greinke.  And to top it off, the company Gene works for has tickets to a Royals suite, so he was able to snag those tickets for the game.  Amazing seats, amazing pitching (until the rest of Royals didn’t perform ), and most importantly, amazing family.  On Saturday they took us to downtown KC to the Crown Center.  We walked around, saw a Lego’s exhibit, and ate at a place called Fritz’s.  Fritz’s is a restaurant based on a train theme.  A train even delivers your meal.  They give out conductor hats to the kids, but as you can see in some of the pictures, we are all just kids at heart.

We have a busy few weeks ahead of us that will take us into the school year.  This coming weekend Matthew will be in Detroit, then we will be in Nauvoo, then school will start and we will be in Florida before you know it!  We hope everything is going well for every!  Please keep in touch!

Love,

Matthew and Traci

It has been a while since we have made a post and we have been told to update.  So here we are updating our blog.  We have loaded some pictures over time, but haven’t told anyone what was going on.  Over Memorial Day Weekend, we went down to Kansas City to see Gene, Marjean, Justin, and Courtney.  It was a blast.  Matt was still on crutches, but Justin and Courtney helped push him around on a wheel chair when we went to a mall.  Justin had just previously come up to Lincoln to visit and helped take Matt around.  It was a good time to be visiting with family.  Jim and Patty came out for Traci’s birthday for a few days.  They hadn’t been down to Kansas City in a long time, so we took them down and that is where Traci celebrated her birthday.  It was a low key celebration, but it was a good time.  We ate bbq in true Kansas City fashion for Traci’s birthday, had a great red velvet cake and just enjoyed Traci while she had some time off.  Traci had to work on the 4th of July so Matt was going solo for activities.  Matt went out to Seward, where he works, because it is called the 4th of July City of Nebraska.  It is a small town celebration but on a larger scale (meaning it caters to larger numbers of people).  The shuttle from the parking areas to the events were large tractors pulling a people carrier.  Matt went to Seward with a couple of law school buddies who were also temporarily wifeless.  When he returned from Seward, Matt attended a bbq at some local friends house.  It was good times.  Matthew and Traci rearranged their living room giving a more open feeling.  Other than these things, everything is just chill with the Mellor’s.  We are looking forward to heading to Kansas City again at the end of the month.  We hope everything is going well with you!  Keep in touch!!

Matthew and Traci

I know a lot of you might be curious how Matthew’s surgery and recovery went and are going.  Lets start from the beginning.  Matthew’s surgery time got bumped back the day before because an emergency knee surgery came up and because of the nature of the surgery to the hips, it is hard for the doctor to put a time frame on it, so hip surgery is always last.  But even when we got to the surgical center, we were sitting in the waiting room with the knee surgery patient that was suppose to go before him.  Once they got him back and changed, they put the I.V. in the back of his hand, right where he didn’t want it.  Matthew gets weirded out when he see’s I.V.’s in the back of hands, but the nurses went right for it.  Anyway, they finally took him back for what turned out to be close to a 3 1/2 hour surgery.  The repairs were less extensive than the doc originally anticipated, so Matthew didn’t have to wear the boots at night and only had to be on crutches for 3 weeks instead of 4.  Matthew’s parents came out for the surgery and to help for a week afterwards.  They were a huge help since Matthew wasn’t too mobile yet and helping run errands.  Matthew is now just past the 3 week mark and is walking and putting weight on his leg now while using the crutches.  His goal is to be done with the crutches in a couple of days and keep building strength from there.  We will post a few pictures soon from the surgery and from Matthew’s recovery.  Thank you for all your prayers and concern.

Love you all

Matthew and Traci

Just a quick update, Matthew’s work plans changed at the last minute for summer.  Instead of having to commute an hour for an unpaid internship with Gage County, he will be commuting thirty minutes for a paid clerkship with Seward County Attorney’s Office.  The call came during his last final with the offer of the position and he snatched it up.  He had a better vibe from the office and it will definitely cut down on the gas costs this summer.  The funniest part is Matthew will literally be the only male in the office.  The three attorney’s and the support staff is all females.  He just finished up his first week at work and loves it so far.  He has been able to do some interesting things and get some great experience.  There will be a picture to come of the court house where he works in Seward.

Hope you are all doing well!

Matthew and Traci

It is officially the start of summer!  Traci finished her ethics class and is ready to start more nursing school in the fall.  Matthew officially finished his 1L year of law school.  We will now be anxiously awaiting the posting of his grades.  We have a couple of trips planned this summer.  So far one trip to Kansas City for Memorial Day Weekend and at the end of summer to Nauvoo, IL.  We are looking forward to this summer and having some fun and taking a break from this hectic year.  Matthew has his surgery today at 1500.  It has been a roller coaster getting everything finalized, but we are finally a go!  We hope to hear from all of you soon!

Matthew and Traci

It has been a while since we have posted, which is becoming a routine, so it is time we update everyone.  Matthew has 2.5 weeks left of his 1L year.  He is really excited about being done, but really nervous and stressed about finals.  So it is one of those bitter-sweet things.  He will be going in for his right hip surgery on May 7, the day after finals, and will hopefully be staring work on May 18.  Traci has officially been accepted into the RN to BSN program here at University of Nebraska.  She is getting nervous, but excited about starting in the fall.  With Traci working, she will be going to school part time.  When all is said and done, Matthew and Traci will be graduating at the same time in 2011.

We hope all is well with everyone!  We hope to hear from you all soon and hope your spring is going well.

Matthew and Traci

Matthew made a decision and turned down the position in Kansas City.  It was a tough decision to make, but weighing everything out, it was the right decision for this summer.  He is going to take some summer classes while he works for Gage County.  He has set his first surgery date for May 7th.  It is the day after his last 1L final, but he would have to wait an entire week if he didn’t do it so quickly after school was out.  This will give him about a week and a half before he ideally will be starting work and school for the summer.  Matthew also got a new calling at church.  He is the ward clerk, so he will be spending some time at the church, so being in Kansas City wouldn’t be too conducive for that calling.

Traci is still waiting to hear back from her application into the BSN program through University of Nebraska Medical Center.  She is finishing up her ethics course online right now and can’t wait to be done with a “general requirement” and back into classes she cares about.  The hospital is always keeping her busy.  It has been a relief lately because work has been less hectic, but still it keeps her jumping.

We hope to hear from you all soon!  Keep us posted.

Matthew and Traci

Hey Everybody,

We went to Jackson for spring break this year since we didn’t get home over the holidays.  We went from a Saturday to Saturday and tried to cram a lot into a week!  We stayed at Matt’s families house for the first part of the week.  It was fun spending time with them and being reminded what tax season is like.  Part of our visit with them was postponed while Matt’s grandfather was having a heart attack.  Matt went over to Idaho with his parents on Sunday night and Traci stayed hung out with her family while they were gone.  It was fun seeing a lot of friends and being able to visit with family.  We both brought homework with us, but didn’t get the amount done that we probably should have, but we enjoyed relaxing and having some time off.

Matt is 5 weeks away from finals and can’t wait to have his first year over.  There is a lot of work to be done before that happens, but it will go by quickly.  Traci is still enjoying her job and can’t wait to find out whether she got into the BSN program.  She will be one step closer to where she wants to be with her career.

One of our first nights back we had our first official tornado warning/watch.  The sirens went off and the weather was pretty rough.  There were a few that touched down outside of Lincoln, but there was the potential.  I guess tornado season has officially begun and Matt hopes to get some good weather photo’s taken this season.

Hope you are all doing well.  Keep in touch!

Matthew and Traci

I have been offered two experience opportunities this summer.  Traci and I will be making a final decision soon, but it was a choice of two completely different prosecution offices.  The first place was the Gage County Attorney in Beatrice, NE.  18427 It is a small rural community just south of Lincoln.  The office consists of 3 attorney’s and about 4 support staff.

The other office was the Jackson County Prosecutor’s office in Missouri covering Kansas City.  18431 This is the largest jurisdiction in Missouri and the office is right down town KC.  This office consists of 64 attorney’s which still qualifies as understaffed and the bare bones support staff.

Hope you all are doing well.  We hope to hear from you soon!

Matthew and Traci

Another year has come and gone, so I thought I would take this moment around my birthday and reflect on what has happened in the last year.  It has been a very eventful year so that is the reason why.  It was the end of January, beginning of February roughly when we sent out applications for law school and starting hearing back.  Of course as many of you remember, University of Nebraska was the quickest to return an acceptance and as you all know we ended up here.  The decision was tough when deciding between schools because coming to Nebraska was a bigger risk.  Traci and I however, couldn’t fight the feelings that we knew we needed to be here for at least the next three years.  Every since we have moved here we have found so many things to confirm we are where we are suppose to be.  The people in Nebraska are among the friendliest we have met.  The friends we have gained through the law school have been with us through one of the most challenging times of our lives.  And the most recent addition to our conformations was the fact we moved to a town where one of only five doctors in the country can help fix one of the problems with my hips.  Meeting our friends, gaining the education I am, and finding this doctor has helped us to realize Nebraska is the place for us right now.

Other than those reflections, at the beginning of the second semester of law school hits hard and fast.  They have added an additional class and hit us with writing assignments right out of the gate.  Traci has started an online class as well as she prepares to go further in her nursing education.  If everything works out as planned we will both be graduating again around the same time.  Life keeps us pretty busy right now, but we continue to find things to keep us entertained.  Some of the additional pictures in our gallery if of a guy who I go to law school with who is in a band.  A couple of us were able to go watch him play downtown.  It was a lot of fun and we never knew he was so talented.  I always thought I would be going to law school with a lot of uptight intelectuals, but everyone here has amazing backgrounds and talents.  This coming weekend Traci and I are going to watch Nebraska v. Missouri in a swim meet.  Since I was on swim team in high school I am really excited to go.

We hope all is well for everyone.  Please keep in touch because we love hearing from all our friends.

Matthew and Traci