A Visit From Stan

Stan Israelsen, an old college buddy of mine visited this weekend. He was interviewing for a residency position at OHSU in Orthopedic Surgery. We hope he gets it so him and his family move out here. I spent a lot of the weekend driving Stan around and helping Karren with Darcy's baby shower. I left work a little early on Friday and took Stan to see Multanomah Falls, a must see in the Portland area. It was really cold and so we wrapped up Sonya in many layers of clothing and headed toward the Falls. We intended to go to the top, but unfortunately, the mist from the falls froze to the trail and made it pure ice. We didn't get very far (just before the bridge). Instead, we drove along the Historic Columbia River Highway and looked at the many waterfalls from the car.

Learning From Dad

Karren called me today at work (twice) to tell me some funny stories about Sonya.

The first one happened just after Karren took Sonya inside the house to warm up after a walk. It has been pretty chilly in the mornings and Karren always likes to bundle Sonya up in a hat and a warm coat. Anyway, after coming in, Karren took off Sonya's coat and hat and started putting them away. Sonya immediately started fussing pointing to the hat and coat. Karren handed them to Sonya and she attempted to put them back on. She apparently wasn't ready to come in and associates going outside with her hat and coat. She may have learned that from me. She knows that when I put on my coat, ear warmers and gloves to get ready for my bike ride to work, I am leaving. She sometimes voices her discontent as soon as I start putting them on.

The second one relates to Sonya watching dad eat yogurt (one of my favorite snacks). I typically take off the foil top, lick it, eat the yogurt inside, and put the top back into the container. Today while Karren was feeding Sonya yogurt, Sonya held onto the top. When it was gone, Sonya put the top into the container and handed the container to Karren. She learns from the best! Incidently, she has been handing us her toys and bottles after she finishes them (rather than her just throwing them on the ground). It is pretty cute and we appreciate it.

Sonya - Tall and Skinny

I took Sonya to the doctor this morning for her one year checkup and vaccination shots. The doctor said that she is doing great in the developmental area and is in the 74% for height (at 29.75 inches tall), but she is deficient when it comes to weight (18 pounds, 10 ounces) at 13%. The doctor isn't too worried though. Sonya did not like her shots! She got 4 and gave the nurse a big scowl. After 5 minutes of crying, I took her out of the room and she cheered right up. She even smiled at the nurse who administered the shots.

Sonya really loves music and so when Robin Barker mentioned a class called Music Together, we enrolled her right away. I called Karren after the class ended and she said Sonya absolutely loved it. Karren and Sonya should have a lot of fun over the next 10 weeks.

A Week Without Cakes

For the first time in a really time, Karren did not have a cake to do. It was really, really nice to be able to get some things done. Karren spent time with some friends, lots of time with Sonya, got her hair cut, made dinner every night (without buying anything), and went on a nice long bike ride with Robin Barker. I was a little nervous this week for my job. Intel released their earnings on Thursday, and we knew they weren't going to be good. In this economy, many of my co-workers (including me) feared the worst. Thankfully, I now know that I will keep my job without any salary cuts. They cut our stock partication plan from 10% to 5% and I won't get a raise this year, but that is the worst it got. I am feeling very thankful for being employed by such a stable company. We are still planning on building up our savings though, as the economy could get worse. I was also able to get more done, including spending time with my family and working on removing our tree that fell over in the Christmas snow storm. It still has more work to be done, but I got a lot of it done. We even had a game night last night with the Barkers! I am grateful for weeks like this!

2008 in Review

As an opening entry, here are some photos and a short recap of the last year.

Sonya Brie Wilde was born December 28, 2007 and was 8 pounds, 5 ounces and 20 inches long. Karren had to have an emergency C-Section because the cord was wrapped around Sonya's neck and was strangling her. Thankfully, the doctors were very competent, and after a long recovery (7 days in the hospital), both Sonya and Karren came home safely.

After this blessed day, Karren and I continually are trying to balance our home lives (with Sonya being the biggest part of it), Church (with our callings in Primary and the Activities Committee), and work (including my job at Intel and Karren's business, Karren's Specialty Cakes. Needless to say, this has kept us busy, but it has been a lot of fun too.

With hard work, much needed rest is often needed. This year, we were able to take a few vacations. All were fun, but very different. Sonya seemed to enjoy them all. We are very lucky that she is such a sweet natured, happy child. The family trips were to Orem, Utah in February and Chico, California in October. They were short but family filled. Our camping trips were to Silver Falls State Park over Memorial Day weekend and to Timothy Lake (on Mount Hood) over Labor Day weekend. The first was wet and the second was cold, but both were fun.

Finally, the highlight of our trips this year was an eight day tour of New York City and Boston in July. It was really hot, but really fun. We stayed in Bed and Breakfasts in both places: The Bronx Guest House in New York and Brownestone (AKA Abigayle's) in Boston. We were pretty shocked that New York City seemed to close down so early (everything other than Broadway seems to shut down at 5 PM). In New York, we visited the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, the Bronx Zoo, Broadway, and the World Trade center. In Boston, we visited the Freedom Trail, Lexington and Concord, the New England Aquarium, and the Museum of Fine Arts. Karren and I both agree that we enjoyed Boston the most.

In church, Karren and I taught the CTR8 class which we greatly enjoyed. Late in the year, Karren and I both got called to the Activities Committee. We feel really lucky to have the same callings, not just once, but twice. Karren also has been asked to cook for multiple activities, including Relief Society enrichment meetings, a welcome event for the new Portland Temple President, a dinner with Elder Oaks, and the year end Christmas party. She is an excellent chef (she doesn't like the work cook when referring to her) and everyone loves her food, so she gets asked to do a lot.

Sonya is growing up quickly, she now babbles and says mamamama (mom), dadadadada (dad), and bababababa (bottle), climbs up and down stairs, and walks with her arms out like a zombie. She is a joy to be around as she smiles all the time and perfect strangers seem drawn to her. We sure love our little child.

Karren's Specialty Cakes & Confections Blog

We dedided to post Karren's Specialty Cakes entries on her own blog. See http://karrensspecialtycakes.blogspot.com/ for all the cake goodness.