Here's Reagan!

Here is Angela on Sunday the 5th of April, carrying baby Reagan....

And here is baby Reagan Joy Workman! She is about 4 hours old in this photo. She was born at 11:27 am today. She weighs 7 lbs 4 oz. and is just about perfect. She looks a lot like her big sister, Johnnie, who is going to be 10 years old tomorrow. All are healthy and fine and this family could use a break from drama at the birth of their babies!

Sunny joked about naming her middle name "nomics"... get it?... Reaganomics?

Daddy and Mom are doing well. This is their first baby born in Bend. They had to follow their favorite doctor.

Here is the fabulous foursome! Hyrum was first to hold the new baby sister. He is brand new to being a "big" brother. He also is sporting a big bandage on his forehead from getting stitches on Saturday. He was being "helped" into timeout and tripped and hit his head on the door frame.

Angela's sister called while we were at the hospital and they were rushing to the hospital in Utah to have her baby too. We hope all is well for her. Poor Grandma Madsen is here in Prineville and has another new grandbaby coming at the same time!

What a view!

I caught a beautiful evening to capture the view from our living room window. Actually it is the same view from the kitchen and all of the bedrooms too. It is the first mostly clear night we have had in a long time. Did I mention that I am sick of winter! Just to the right of the tree you can see the top of Three Sisters .

With a telescopic lens you can see the Crooked River valley better. Just beyond the flat butte on the right you would see Smith Rock.

The view a little more to the north shows this great view of Grizzly Mountain. The other 200 acre piece of property that the boys hay is just at the base of it.

With a telescopic lens you can see the top of Sisters mountains better. You can see the top of Jefferson from other points on the property too.

We Moved!!

After 21 years at our Lookout Ave. house we have moved to a farm just outside of town. Last September, "the boys" and Curt and I bought a 143 acre farm, with 40 more acres leased. The house has been empty for months until we had the time and a little money to do some work on it. There is LOTS more work to do, but it is livable now. I did not take any photos of the outside yet because it still looks like a construction site and there is a lot of crud in the yards, plus it is winter and not looking spiffy. I will take some photos of the gorgeous view soon. So here are some photos of some of the rooms right after moving in... so excuse the boxes and mess. There aren't any curtains up yet either, but I am thrilled with the paint, carpet and windows.

This is the master bedroom. I decorated in a tropical theme. It was completely gutted and has new sheetrock, carpet, lights and one new window. It has a sitting room area that I can keep my bike, inversion table, a comfy chair, table and TV. I did striping on the walls to match the comforter.

This is the master bath that I did in peach and sage colors. It got a new window that is HUGE and faces the front of the house. Can you imagine stepping out of the shower and facing the front of the house? I hung a sheet until I can get curtains! We also have a walk in closet. A first!

The house is all stretched out with a long hallway. All of the rooms have a view of the north and Grizzly Mountain... except this hallway bathroom. I did it in lavender and has pansies for decor. You can see in the mirror another door that leads to the "mud" room. It has another outside entrance and is where the furnace and freezer is.

This is the guest bedroom and office. They are both painted brown and the office has hardwood floor. Both rooms need the windows replaced. They are the last two and we hope to do that this summer.

This is the living room. I LOVE it! It is painted in two shades of brown. Curt is going to replace the woodstove insert with a new one. The large window and french doors are new.

This is the kitchen. It is a beautiful shade of light green with the accent wall by the dining table a darker shade of sage. It has a center island and lots of cupboards. Next to the window seat presently is a built in desktop that we are going to tear out and build a pantry cupboard to hold my canning and food storage. All we did in here was paint. (And by "we" I mean Jenniann and me. Curt doesn't paint.)

Christmas...a little late

Here is our annual Christmas Eve photo. The guys grumble a little about doing it every year, but they still do it! We are without Amanda and her family because they stay home and come see us after Christmas. This was our last Christmas in our house on Lookout Ave. The 1200 sq. feet has served us well for 21 years. We had a simple, practical Christmas this year since we are all cash strapped. I gave all of the kids some food storage!

Standing L to R: Sam, Jenniann holding Macquarie, Angela (pregnant with Reagan, due April 6th), Sunny, Curt with Johnnie in front, Me.

Front: Lia (striking quite a pose!), Brigham, Emily holding Hyrum.

More fun with Amelia

Today Amanda called so I could talk some sense into Amelia about wearing black pants. Amelia thinks that is "a boy color"and won't wear them. I told her that I have 2 pairs of black pants and they are my favorites! Girls wear black pants all the time and you can wear any color of top with them and I was wearing black pants right then while we were talking! I don't know if she put them on after we hung up... but I was amused at the influence I could have on my granddaughter's wardrobe. I wonder if that will still work when she is 15!

The Girls and Grandma

Amelia was really missing her Grandma and persuaded her parents to make a trip to Prineville so she could get a picture of us together to hang in her room. What a sweetie. I always hate to get my picture taken, but maybe she will remember me more kindly than I do myself!

We always have fun together. I probably am the "craft" grandma because we make things together as often as we can. I really look forward to every stage of my grandchildren's lives and hope that when they are teenagers we can still have fun!

While Amelia was getting her picture taken Hayden and Lia needed to be a part of the fun too! I made Hayden and Amelia's matching dresses recently. It was fun and brought back memories of sewing for my own girls. I need to do more of that again. Lia let Aunt Amanda put braids in her hair, which is quite an accomplishment! The funny story from this weekend was when Lia was helping Amanda make cookies and she told her that she liked Amy (Amanda's cousin). She said Amy tells stories without books, she tells stories with her mouth! Amanda told her, "That's because Amy can't read!" Of course, that all got back to Amy and the battle is on! You gotta love our family!

Another tragic loss

This is my mom doing one of her favorite things. She didn't ask for much out of life and never complained. She worked hard all of her life, retiring when she was 8o years old! She still bowls on a league and does volunteer work

On Oct. 20th she was in an accident and died the next day from her injuries. I was able to spend the morning with her and talk to her, with her responding with a shake of the head before she started to fail. I was not prepared for this and I am having a very hard time dealing with it. I have a lot to take care of now and I struggle through each day figuring out what to do. Not to dwell on the sadness, I thought I would include some other photos:

This is two weeks before mom died. We took a trip to California together to attend her younger brother's 50th wedding anniversary. We got to make a long ride down from the mountains where they live, into Stockton in a stretch limo. This is her brother Jim, mom and her sister Doris in the limo.

All of our children were home for the funeral, as well as two of my three brothers and mom's brother and sister. This is from L to R: my sister-in-law Elaine, my brother Steve, Me, Curt, my brother Kent, mom's sister Doris, mom's sister-in-law Paddie, and her brother Jim

It was fun to see Emily and her cousin Megan get together. This is the first time since they have become "adults". Megan just turned 22 and Emily is 27. They are a lot alike.

It seems like I only post a new blog entry when I have something fun or exciting, or something sad to ad. I will have to examine my life and find something worthwhile to share more often. I will miss my mom.