A lot has happened in the life of a three-month old since I last wrote: Anika went to her first Hope Community Church Spring Retreat; she learned about gardening and lawn maintenance from Grandma Kim; and she got in some good play time with her best friend, Eva.
Every year, the better portion of our church heads out of town for our annual Spring Retreat. We learn about God (this year's theme was "Story"), study the Bible, take in gospel community on steroids, and play lots of games. Our first year with a baby made things quite different (lots of long naps and earlier bed times), but we still had a great time. Spring Retreat is hands down one of my favorite weekends of the year.
 |
| Anika looking flabbergasted by all of the people at Spring Retreat 2012! |
 |
| Our good friend Tiffany soaking up time with her favorite Hope baby girl (who is not named Kaia or Elsa). |
 |
| Anika with our new friend Tom, who we loved getting to know better in our awesome Spring Retreat small group. |
 |
| Anika and I got to catch up on some lost time and had lots of QT over the weekend. |
But after a long weekend away, it was time to get back to business at home. Part of this involved taking care of the monstrosity that has become our backyard. I'm not one for yard work (hence the monster of a yard three years in the making), but the beautiful and high-maintenance plants and bushes that the previous sellers so kindly bestowed upon us in an effort to sell had grown to disastrous proportions.
There was only one solution.
 |
| Grandma Kim and her chainsaw! |
 |
| Baby-sitting, chainsaw-wielding Grandma Kim admiring her beautiful work. The large, unsightly dogwood bushes were reduced to a pile of smoldering wreckage in minutes. |
 |
| Anika watched her Grandma from the deck deep in thought, pondering whether she's been blessed with genes that will allow her to make scrumptious meals and deftly handle power tools. |
Luckily, Eva came over to interrupt Anika's deep thinking about her future.
 |
| Anika and Eva enjoying the outdoors and learning chainsaw skills by osmosis. |
 |
| The dynamic duo enjoying Eva's play mat (and Anika wondering where Ms. Owl has gone to). |
Stay tuned. Next up is Anika's first trip to a Yellow Cheese softball game. She can hardly sleep, thinking about Yellow Cheese making another championship run this summer!
Aren't you proud of your wife for so faithfully taking pictures in your absence? I don't think I've seen her use a camera since our trip to Honduras six years ago!
ReplyDeleteOMG Alicia, I love the picture of your mom with a chainsaw. I think that's one for their Christmas card this year!
ReplyDelete-Rachel