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.