Colleen is here!

Ryan and I had a busy, busy day today. (No Marni, we didn't have our baby and name them Colleen...however, I was slightly more conscious of my title this time :) ) We went grocery shopping, made lunch for a friend, picked up our bowling balls, (mine is pretty blue and lime and smells like limes too), dropped off Ryan's brother in the boonies, and then I got to pick up my best friend's little sister for some dinner and a movie at our apartment. She just came to town for college, and I think that we saved her from a night of homework and boredom! We had Edwardo's pizza, and watched a good flick, and got to hear all about the first week happenings for Colleen. It was really fun to hang out with her and get to make her feel at home in "my town". It also made me very thankful that 1) I will NEVER have to repeat my freshman year of college over and 2) that I'm done with school. Not that she's had bad experiences, but all of the feelings of "who am I", and "what do I stand for" and "am I going to fight in" worries are more in the past now than they were when I started in Milwaukee. Tonight made me very thankful to be where I am, and very proud of where I'd grown from 6 years. It's nice to see how things have laid out, and to be hopeful and excited for the years to come.

Please Pray

Hey all--this is a quick prayer request. My church sent a team to Senegal for a 10 day missions trip, and they're due to come back this Friday. Everything had been going well until Sunday when one of the members of the team came down with Malaria. On Tuesday a second member caught it, and today their translator/interpretor also caught it. Please pray for their healing and the teams' protection. You can check out their progress at Senegal Missions. Thanks

Not showing yet...

Ryan and I found out that we were pregnant yesterday! We're tentatively due April 30th, and we both can't wait and can't believe it at the same time. Here's prego photo number one, not quite showing yet. (Oh yeah, and Ryan's surgery went really well and he's in minimal pain and recovering quickly, although I did get scolded by the nurse for not taking Ryan's temperature :) )

Fall

Growing up this used to be my favorite time of year. School was about to start, the soccer season was underway, the changing seasons and the freshness of everything. This year is no different.
I just got back from four days in Michigan visiting family, having a slumber party with my nieces, playing Nintendo Wii with my nephews, hanging out with my sisters and cousins and taking a boat ride on a rough Lake Michigan (no, the rip-tides didn't get me). I had a great time in Michigan and was glad to be able to spend some non-stress time with my family.
This morning Ryan had surgery to remove his tonsils, etc and it went well. However, it didn't go so well with me when I went to pick up his pain medication and got sent to three other pharmacies before being able to have the drug in hand! Finally I tracked it down and was able to return home in time to find my husband waking up from a nap and looking for some meds. He's doing okay, better than I hoped he'd be doing, but he's still in a bit of pain which is never fun to see. It will be nice to be able to spend the next week with him before I start my new job.
It feels perfect to be starting a new job now, mostly because it reminds me of being a kid and school starting. This will be something that it completely different than what I'm used to, and yet I might really like it. It'll also serve as a means to an end for us. We'd like to try and be debt free before kids come along, and this job hopefully should help us to get there.
Not much else is going on. My plans for the next couple of days are 1) take care of Ryan 2) prepare to teach on Sunday 3) clean the house and 4) relax as much as possible before starting the new job. It'll be interesting to see how it goes, regardless I'm looking forward to the time off.

Becky Simpson

Thanks to Dave and Burger King, the following is my flavour of simpson today.

To Simpsonsize yourself go to:

http://www.simpsonizeme.com/

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Happy Birthday Ryan! I'm looking forward to dinner and a movie with you tonight. I hope that you enjoy your 1/2 day off! Love you.

Holland Bound

Ryan and I are out for my Uncle Jim's annual family reunion at Lake Michigan. We're both looking forward to it, albeit it seems like we're never going to get out of the apartment! We're picking up my cousin Jim at Midway, and then meeting another Uncle Jim (other side of the family, and let me differentiate--this is Pepsi Jim, not one of my five other uncle Jims) Anyway, I digress. It'll be nice to catch up with my cousin Jim and see my Dad's side of the family tomorrow night. We're also hoping to get in a bit of tennis tomorrow and my mom's side of the family on Sunday. It'll be a busy weekend, but full of family.

(Also included some pics of a couple of the previous home visits, for viewing pleasure. :) )

Oh no

19-4!!??!!! My Brewers are making me pretty sad lately. Thank you Rockies for the fantastic hitting clinic you put on yesterday for the sweep of the series. It was, umm, humbling to say the least.

Brewer Game

Yesterday Ryan and I went tailgaiting with his family. His Grandpa had organized the afternoon, and it went really well, minus the few drizzles that came down during the tailgait. However, one of the nice features of Miller Park is that it has a retractable roof, so that by the time we went in for the game, the roof had been closed and we were able to enjoy the atmosphere. The Brewer's have been in first place for sometime now, until the recent Cubs surge that has got us actually having to PLAY in order to keep our rank. Earlier on in the week the Cubs took the number one slot for a day, until we ended up winning and reclaiming the title. Now every game is one where we seem to be rooting against the Cubs and rooting for the Brewers. Unfortunately for us, the Cubs pulled off a game yesterday and so there was a tension throughout most of our game of whether or not we'd win and keep the lead. The Phillies were beating us until the 8th with my favorite player, Prince Fielder, hit a two run jack which put us ahead 6-5. Miller Park erupted and it was one of the loudest and most energetic games that I've been to yet (something like the 23rd sellout this season for the Crew). It was a great environment, but the best play of the game came from Corey Hart who had to extend all 6ft 6inches of his body up and over the wall to catch a ball from being a home run! It was a fantastic catch, and again the place erupted. The Brewers were able to hang onto the lead and ended up winning the game. Ryan and I, along with the whole family had a great time and I'm looking forward to going back again next year.

Ryan's at the game this afternoon in order to pick up another Bobblehead. It's another sellout, and the Crew is going for a sweep of the series against the Phillies. It should be fun for him and Mike, and I'm looking forward to getting some cleaning done. :) 2 weeks left of work at the clinic to go, then 2 weeks off before the new job starts. It should be a fun rest of the summer.

Festa

A couple of weekends ago Ryan and I went to Festa Italiana in Milwaukee. It was a lot of fun. I think that the best part of the afternoon was the entertainment. It was nice to be in a crowd of people who weren't scantily dressed and heavily intoxicated. Overall we had a really enjoyable time.

The guy with the white coat was an incredible singer from Italy, but he had one big quirk. EVERY time he had one of the musicians solo he acted like he was playing the guitar, REGARDLESS of the instrument soloing...keyboard, trumpet, saxophone, DRUMS! It was hilarious. We had a fantastic time, and I can't wait until next year.

Update

I've got a couple of minutes before Ryan returns from the grocery store, so I thought that I'd throw in a quick update before our friends come over for dinner tonight.
First off, I did end up making stuffed tomatoes last week and it went over rather well. I got to use the nice dishes that my Aunt Judy gave Ryan and me for our wedding, which is always fun. Tonight it seems that Matt is stopping by Edwardo's for some pizza, which should be pretty yummy, and have less dishes. :)
As an update for the weekend, Ryan took me out golfing at a real golf course on Friday in order to practice for my brother-in-law's company outing the next day. Now, I had fancied myself a decent golfer after our last outing at the Par 3 course where I shot a 72. Apparently playing on courses where some holes are 480 yards from the tee are a different story! I was TERRIBLE, not only that but it was after a frustrating day at work, and I realized how true those commercials are on TV where people throw their clubs into the water. Apparently the game is supposed to be fun. I think, however, it should be played when you aren't already frustrated to begin with. Saturday was a bit more fun because we played Scramble, and went with everyone's best shot in the foursome. My foursome still ended up 7 over, but for all of us being fairly unpracticed, I wasn't too disappointed.
Sunday was another busy day. Ryan stayed in Milwaukee to lead some worship at church, and I went down to Chicago with a team of people from our church to help pray for and encourage a Vineyard church down there. It was a fun afternoon, with crazy driving and good pizza. I ended up sitting across the table from my pastor's mother-in-law who is from Mexico and doesn't speak any english, albeit she's lived in the US and is a US citizen for the past twenty years (granted, she does reside in Mexico 1/2-3/4 of the year), because as she says "I'm 73 years old, what's the point in learning it now?" :) She's pretty cool, and I had a good time talking with her. Although it renewed my frustration with being able to speak a LOT of medical spanish, and having a great lack in conversational spanish. Hopefully I'll be able to start practicing soon.
Lastly, Ryan and I went to the ballgame last night to watch the Brewers take down the Mets in the bottom of the 13th inning! Geoff Jenkins had a walk-off homer, Tom Glavin pitched (hoping for his 300th win, but not suceeding), and there were two Sausage races! It was a long and late game, but we had a lot of fun. It made me thankful that we live in Milwaukee. The Brewers truly have one of the nicest parks in the league, and it's like five miles away from our apartment. It was the 20th Sell-out of the season, and it's fun watching baseball. Ryan and I were talking about how fun it would be to someday buy a 20 game pack, and we fantasized about where our tickets would be. He'd ideally like to be in the second section up directly behind homeplate, and below the press box. personally--and since this was a fantasy---I'd take right by the Brewer's dugout! :)
Well, Ryan just got home, and we're going to do some quick cleaning before Matt and Rachel come over. Congrats again on the new job Marni! Just Ryan and Chris to go with the new jobs. Pictures to follow.