So Here it is! I found a Picture, the only picture I have of my bitchin' camaro (and what is left of my high school mullet) a 1970 1/2 Camaro RS/SS with a 396 and hurst 4 speed. babe magnet! The car... Not me.....

I am so sorry I sold that car.... a Solano county Sheriff deputy bought it from me. He said he had seen me burning up the back roads between Vacaville and Davis a few times, and when he saw the for sale sign on it he new he wanted it.

One day I will live again.....

These were taken the day she came home. Thanks Robb!

She Is Here!

The post has been slow in coming, I apologize! But ohhh she is worth the wait!

So a week before she was born, I took the boys to Knott's Berry Farm and while we were standing in line, little William was talking to a lady in front of him, she asked "Are these all your brothers?"

William says yes, but I have one more at home, and a baby sister coming soon!"

The lady asks "When?!"

William says " I have the date marked on my calendar"

The lady replies " oh thats so sweet , you are excited!?"

William says "No! that is so I know which day I need to run away!"

Well, last week William comes into the bedroom and tells Buff " Mom, I was wrong, I don't want to run away, Elise is so sweet and pretty!"

Of Course she is!

I have tried to establish a tradition of taking the boys on a trip with dad before a new baby is born, (although, what is the point of establishing a tradition for an occasion that will never happen again?)
(wait, deja vu, anyone?) Last time it was Montana (read about it here), the time before it was... oh, I can't remember. Anyway, this time I took them to Knott's Berry Farm for few days, and did a few other things in So-Cal.

We met up with the Christopherson's (gotta love 'em) down there and Spencer got to hang with the older kids and I got to stay with the little ones. We had a great time!

I love My Boys! But The new Girl will be here soon and they will have some competition!

So I have been dreaming a lot lately. normally I don't remember my dreams unless I have been very stressed out, and work is really stressing me out lately, but I can't write about that here...

anyway, I used to talk out loud, full on conversations, or so Elizabeth says, she could always figure out what was really bothering me, but she says I have not talked in my sleep for a long time, but man have I been dreaming.

I have had a dream that has occurred twice now, and it has been the scariest dream I have had in quite some time.

I am home watching the kids (again, because Elizabeth has no shortage if "things" that she has planned), well Emerson needs his diaper changed (again, because this kid is like a poop factory! If human guano was worth as much as bat guano, I would not have to worry about my house being worth as much as the contents if the diaper i am about to change... People think we are lazy for not putting clothes on the kid, but what is the point?! he spends 50% of the time with them off because we have to change his diaper every hour, and the other 50% of the time we have to change his pants because he has blown a diaper gasket and he needs a clean pair)

Anyway, back to the dream... so here I am starting to change Emerson, I wrestle him down and get him still for a minute and take his diaper off, and all off the sudden it is like the beginning of the twilight zone, the world is spinning! The kid has no penis! it was here an hour ago! where did it go! what has taken it's place is not supposed to be there, I can't quite decide what it is... and then... BAM! the realization hits me, It is girl parts! what the heck am I supposed to do! I have had five boys, I know how to clean the bum of a baby boy, but whoa, hold on here, what do I do with that!

I am freaking out, it is like I have never seen girl parts before, I am panicked and calling for Buff, but she is not there, and I look down at Emerson and it's not Emerson....

And then I wake up. All freaked out, and it takes me a minute to gather my senses, I am at home, in my bed, Preston has taken up his position crammed in between Elizabeth and I, and Willian has snuck in and is lying across my feet,

things are normal, I reach out to touch Elizabeth and there is that pregnant belly, and I smile, because I know that my baby girl is coming!

I know most of you are like, what? stop freakin out, and when i am not asleep, i don't feel like it is stressing me out... but apparently it is....

If anybody knows me very well, or you have had a chance to listen to my wife rant, I am not a "door locker". I have a habit of leaving things open. I guess I have a false sense of security, tucked way back here at the end of the culdesac where not even people we want to come see us can find us. Or it is just a really stupid way of being defiant against all that is wrong with the world, but regardless, tonight around midnight I made a concerted effort to lock every thing up tight. As I was walking down the hallway to go to bed, Buff woke up and we started talking for a bit, she wanted to go on a walk.

Then, Elizabeth and I heard a rustle and a weak attempt to open the front door. I thought "the gates are closed and the dog is in his crate, who is at the front door? Again a louder knock, a few requests of

"c'mon let me in!" "Open the door!"

I walked up to the door and asked who it was...

"It's Michelle! you (insert very bad word here)!" was the reply, "Open the door, c'mon let me in!"

Again, I asked who it was.

"Michelle... ( mumble mumble)" (a few more expletives) and more trying to get the door open.

I look through peep hole, and I can see the back of a blond haired woman standing there shivering and obviously teetering like she has had a few to many.

Buff Asked a few times "is it Michelle Edwardson?" "what about Michell so and so"... (Buff of course could probably spout out many more "Michelles" that might possibly come and pay her a visit, but I don't know any that would show up at midnight, try to come walking right in and be drunk off their butt to boot.)

I called the police and told them that there was a drunk lady at our front door trying to get in our house.. they will be there in a minute the operator said...

...and of course they got lost coming to our house... they had to call to confirm they had the right address...But they did get there quickly. Go figure, a lady drunk as a skunk, can find our front door but the police can't...

Well the police show up and the girl decides to puke in my flower bed... I looked at her through the big picture windows, and man she looked like she had had a rough night...

Turns out she was at a party a few streets over, and decided to go for a walk, thought she had walked home ( which the police said was in the temperance/Dakota area) and was not happy that her parents would not let her in...

Of course the dog does not bark at the weird drunk lady stumbling around the house, but does bark at the Police officer.

After they have left, I go out into the front yard and clean up the puke. Man, tequila, Rum, fruit juice, some other fruity drinks... The smell was over powering...

So now the Minnicks have there own story of strange ladies knocking at the front door, just like the Wards! although this lady was not trying to save us....

Here is a picture of the kitchen when we bought the house.

 Kitchen getting stripped

Soffits removed and recessed lights going in...

Blake and Andrew earning their keep...

Halfway Done! 

Well, the pink has already started... first the website, ( I have no idea how that happened ) it is creeping in in subtle ways... first a few articles of clothing, then a co-worker nitted an very nice pink afgan blankie,  more pink outfits, now I am thinking about pink dressers and pink bedroom walls...

soon, the boys and I will not know where to go to reaffirm our manliness....  

So It looks like Spencer will break the minnick mold and actually be able to have enough hand-eye coordination to play a legitimate game of basketball. See, if you know anything about the Minnicks, it is that we are like oil and water when it comes to basketball, we ( at least me) don't have any game....

Spencer on the other hand seems to enjoy it.  Here he is hooping it up for Freedom school.  They lost, but at least he was having fun.  Go Spencer! 

So about 14 months ago, we ordered new appliances, knowing that they were too big for the current cabinets, Silly huh!  Well, I was going to have the time to build my own in no time.... 

Well guess what happened? Life!  Now it is 14 months later and the cases are just about done, the drawer boxes are built and Dec 19 is the big rip out and install date.   The cabinets are paint grade because we will be painting them with a high quality finish that is smooth and durable, then they will be glazed and antiqued.   and the biggest reason they are paint grade is because for my first time taking on a kitchen you want paint to cover the multitude of woodworking sins. 

I have built things before, the dresser and bed in our master bedroom, they are good, sturdy, functional and don't look half bad, dare I say better than most of the crap you would get at your run of the mill furniture store, but i still lack finesse, and an eye for detail when it comes to finishing.  time is what it takes. ( that, and decent tools, that will come with time as well....) 

Well, after the news that we were having a girl, I thought "Oh man, with two females around, the other 6 men of the house will have no chance at all anymore". So I needed to rig the dice by adding yet another boy! 

OLD WIVES TALES ARE TRUE!

You are more sick with Girls!

I kept telling buff that this pregnancy was different,  she was so sick,  house in caos, kids haven't eaten in months, but hey I GOT MY GIRL!   Who's your Daddy! 

I was so done!  5 boys, c'mon who would not be done?  But one night of whip cream and insanity and BAM!  

three post in almost 6 months...  and all in the last week. and all pretty weak... All our friends are just putting us to shame!  Well, Buff says she would post but that she does not know how... she went to a "blogger Class"  But it just showed you how to use "blogger" and the system I use is WAY to complicated.... so she says....

Since I seem to be the last hold out ( no offense guys and Gals)  and refuse to be another lost soul along with all the sheeple that like the ".blogspot" after there blog title, I thought I would post a few instructions for my better half so she can join the group of Bloggers!  

Are you ready?  it is going to be a long read, so bear with me....

1. open the internet browser of your choice...

2. go to www.jaredminnick.com</p>

3. look for the "write button in the top left hand corner of the screen. See image below

WHAT!?  no logging in?  well, yes if you want to you can, but you don't have to if you logged in before!   cookies are great!  

Wow! that was....

...we went and did this past summer!   Can ya?  A few days before my Big 37th B-day, Buff says to me...  I think I am PREGNANT ! Number 6!  I ran out and got a couple of tests, and confirmed it...   I tried to keep my game face on, but a few smiles broke out here and there... 

Well it happened. A whole week in Shaver and as usual it was the most fun we have had all year. We really have a good time with the people we go with. I was up and down the hill Monday and Tuesday for work but Buff was there the whole week. Over on the (Jeremey) Ward Family Blog a great top ten list was published, and The Matt Ward Family Blog has a great write up as well. I will defer to Buff for the write up as she really needs to start posting.... But I will post up some images to get her started. There are LOTS of pictures in the Gallery, Check em out!

You know they are having fun when they are so tired they fall asleep during dinner on the hard tent cabin floor...

Spencer got up water sking on his first try ever with adult size skis!

of course he did not last long....

Caleb had a lot of fun on the kayaks!

In 1998 we started going to family camp with the Christophersons and the Wards and their families. What a Blessing it has been to have their families part of our life. They have invited us in and over the years they accepted us and treated our family as part of theirs. This year will mark the 9th year that we have had family camp with them. Spencer was one year old when we went the first time. Every year, no matter what else we do, it always the MUST DO event! A week of fun at Shaver Lake! We have a secret , secluded camp ground that almost every year we have almost entirely to ourselves. It has an outstanding beach front in a secluded cove. The kids absolutly love it! This year there will be 14 adults and 28 kids! Crazy! Our family loves it! We all eat together, play together, have campfire together, watch and laugh at the crazy antics of all the kids just being kids. No rules about how dirty they can get (except after they have had showers before bed!), they play from sun up to well after sun down.  Here are afew pictures from past years!

We really should do this more often.... even though it was almost 100 degrees outside! the Breeze picked up and the clovis bike path is nice and shaded.  It was really quite enjoyable! the kids had a great time!

So after the great fun we had last year, (you can read about it here) the boys are off again! This year we are going whale watching! Of course it is a toss up as to what is more exciting for the boys, the hotel stay or the actual adventure the next day. The Hotel has a pool a HOT TUB and a fire pit! so they are pretty excited. We got to Monterey around 8:30 p.m. and within 5 minutes they were in the hot tub. Of course the batteries on the camera were dead, so pictures won't come 'till tomorrow but suffice to say, after a great game of marco polo and many contests to see who could swim the longest without taking a breath, they were all ready to hit the hay. Back to the room, and they have all fallen asleep within minutes.

Saturday, Caleb and I awoke and headed to the gym at the hotel. Caleb rode the stationary bike while I ran and lifted some weights. After we got back to the room it was shower and getting dressed in a hurry because the most exciting part of the day was about to happen! Thats Right! Breakfast at the Hotel! WooooHoooo! How quickly can the Minnick boys make the Hotel wish they did not have an all you can eat buffet! and who said that you can't go to the cook and get three plates of bacon, or a crepe stuffed with eggs and syrup, or maybe just some scrambled eggs with ummmmm... ummmmmm..... ummmmm.... no, actually how about just a some bacon and ummmmm.... ummmmmm.... ummmmmmm... no, i think i'll just have some cereal, Yea cereal! oh and some scrambled eggs... oh and some bacon! (can you guess who this was?)

After we broke the hotel and made the waitress cry because the boys were so cute, (and after William charmed all the older couples into thinking he was the cutest boy they had ever seen) we finished up and headed out. Then it was off to the Dennis the Menace park accross the street from fishermans warf in Monterey.

Of course there were seals that we had to watch, the boys thought it was really funny when they made all their noises... because "they sound like dad!" ha ha .... ha... uhhhum....

even after all the fighting over who gets to sleep on mommy's or daddy's  side of the bed or the tears over "so and so has all the blankets" or "they keep kicking me"   and so on,   turns out they really do love each other. 

 

Okay, new server, new software, new blog, everything is brand new! so... where to start?..... so much has happened in the last few months. lets see if I can sum it up....

Caleb got baptized Yea!!!!

Spencer ate A LOT of Ice Cream for a little cash... Thanks Matt....

Spencer ate more things for MONEY ... A chocolate covered CRICKET! YUMMMY!!!

Well, it has been a while since I posted. Halloween, Williams Birthday, thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years have all come and gone. It has just never slowed down! And I don't think it ever will! The boys are good, Emerson is such a good baby, he never fusses and just loves to be held. Preston is a talker and loves to enunciate his words. William is a ladies man, he puts on such a good show for everyone, but we know the truth. Caleb is justs as sweet hearted as ever, his concern for others astounds me. Spencer, what can I say, he is just to smart for his own good. Work has been very busy lately. The construction industry is so interesting. the job sites are different everyday. i have enough work to keep me busy for a very long time, but everyone wants what they feel is important done "right now". Buff is keeping afloat at home, she is a wonder woman, making sure the boys all have what they need, making sure they don't miss any opportunities.

i have to go help get the kids in bed...

We are Home!   The last couple of days was spent driving home. We breezed through Utah stopping long enough for the Christophersons' to spend some time at Temple Square, and for me and the Boys to go and see an old friend whom I had not seen in 20 years.  The visit was great but not long enough!  then we were off to Mesquite, NV for the night. (Word of advise here- DO NOT take the virgin River up on there 29/night room deal. The pools were closed and the rooms are worse than Motel 6 and the beds stink like smoke.)

we woke Weds Morning and got off around 10:00 a.m., made like the wind all the way home, pulling in to the driveway around 6 p.m.

IT is good to be home!

Well, we survived! At least to this point. I am sitting in a hotel room in Rexburg, ID completely exhausted. So far we have traveled over 2700 miles and have been through 6 states and into Canada! Glacier National Park was absolutely breathtaking. I really wish we had spent more time there, but we were on a mission! We arrived in Lewistown, MT very early Thursday morning. We were up early in the morning and went and had breakfast and then the kids got to ride on the horse buggies in the Lewistown Parade! After lunch it was off to the Central Montana State Fair where we spent all afternoon and evening.

the next Day it was out to the ranch! Lewistown is in the middle of Montana, and a LONG way from anywhere, but the ranch was WAY out in the middle of no where! The kids had great time! They went down to the tack house and got boots and a quick lesson on how to ride horses and they were off! Some of the kids including myself joined in the fun of branding, castrating, and vaccinating a bunch of calves that needed it. It was a lesson in how strong those cute little calves are. Of course someone had to get hurt, so I volunteered and took a hoof to the jaw for the team! I did not get completely knocked out but those around me said it was like watching a fighter go down after a solid blow. They said I staggered around a bit after i got up. but within a few minutes i was back at it. we had a calf dressing competition as well, and i learned that it is very difficult to put a shirt on a cow.

We had an old fashioned steak cookout for lunch and then it was off to warm springs (which actually is a spring, but it is no where near warm!) it is one of the coolest swimming holes I have been too. The water was crystal clear and when you look under the water there are literally hundreds of spots where water and bubbles are jetting out of the ground. There was A LOT of water coming up and kept the small river feed quite nicely. The kids swam and played all afternoon and well into the evening. One of the coolest things about being this far north in the summer is that it is light until 10:30 at night!

Saturday was fun as well, we hung out at the city pool where they have a couple of large water slides and a high dive. The crowed cheered when William, cowboyed up and went off the high dive on his own, no encouragement from anyone!

Saturday evening was spent at the fair again, and Sunday we traveled down to Yellowstone National Park. We got as far as Rexburg and called it quits for the day....

The Christophersons' invited us to go on summer vacation with them this year. The destination is a family ranch outside of Lewistown, MT where we have some big fun planned in the Big Sky Country!  Horse back riding, some ranch hand stuff like branding calves, milking cows, river tubing etc.  We will also go to the county fair and since Kari has a relative in the state government, all the kids will get to be in the parade! 

We are having a great Time!  I am writing this from Whitefish, MT.  We left on Friday 7/20/2007 and traveled to Portland, OR, stopping along the way at Lake Shasta, CA,  Medford, OR (to see the LDS temple. We are planning on stopping at every one we can along the way. we have seen Medford, OR, Portland, OR, Columbia River (Richland, WA) and Spokane, WA)

On Saturday we drove along the Columbia River Gorge, stopping at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery. They have some REALLY big trout and sturgeon there!

After stopping at the Temple in Richland, WA we drove on to Spokane, WA and spent the night. Sunday we got up and went to Church.  We then drove on with a destination of Whitefish, MT via Sandpoint, ID and Bonners Ferry, ID. We then continued on down through Troy and Kalispell, MT.  It was one of the most beautiful drives I have been on.  we stopped at Kootenai falls and the kids got go on a short hike down to the river to cross the river on a swinging bridge and take a look at the falls.

we arrived in Whitefish, MT around 11:30 PM  set up the tents ate and fells fast asleep.  the next day the kids swam, rode bikes, played mini golf, generally just goofed off.  That evening some very wild thunderstorms rolled in and soaked us pretty good. Lots of lighting and thunder!  the rain stopped enough for us to feed the kids and get them tucked away in bed. and around 3:00 a.m. an other round of storms came through. it was very exciting! 

we are staying here in white fish for two days, and them tomorrow we are traveling on into Glacier National Park and then to Cardston AL Canada!  that is all for now! I will write more when I have time.  See some more pictures Here! 

Awesome! Boy # 5!

Go here to see more Pictures! Login under username= "Guest" and Password= "guest"

Well.... almost....

16 miles round trip with about 1 mile of elevation gain.  I had done it once before, half a lifetime ago, at 18 and when I was in much better shape.  It is rather sad, as a stark reminder of what a softy I have become.   It really is a beautiful hike.  By far, the hardest part is the first 4 miles.  Up two water falls, Vernal Falls via the "mist trail" and then continuing on up the never ending stone staircase to the top of Nevada Falls and into Little Yosemite Valley.   We stated around 7:30 a.m. and I made it to the top of Nevada Falls around 11:00. That is one mother of a climb!
I stopped and ate some lunch and walked on for about an other hour or so.  I saw this woman shuffling down the trail, her cheeks streaked with tears, she looked very tired and dehydrated.  I asked her if she was okay and she started crying, stating that her group had started up the trail around midnight to catch the sunrise from on top, she did not make the cable climb and her group had left her because she was walking to slow, they told her they would see her at the bottom.  It was noon and she still had about 5 rough miles to go.  She said this was her first time to Yosemite and amazingly her first time on a hike of any length.  (Boy, did she pick the WRONG hike to make her first!)She had started the hike with no more than a small bottle of water and no food, she had a pack full of a jacket and an other pair of shoes that she wore up the trail last night.

I was amazed the people just kept walking by her and no one was paying any attention.  I realized that without some help right now she was not going to make it down until well after dark and most likley not at all without some help from the park rescue.
What a convenient excuse for me to turn around!!!   I asked her if she would like some help, she started crying again and said "yes!"  So I literally had to beg her to drink some of my water (fortunately i still had about 2 liters left) and I took her bag and walked very slowly along with her, keeping her talking and not focused on the walk ahead.  I decided that she would be better off if we took the John Muir trail back to Happy Isles instead of the Mist Trail even though it adds about 1.5 miles to the hike, it is not a vertical hike and not full of uneven steps and rocky terrain.  It took us four hours to hike about 5 miles down hill,  now that is slow... i made sure she found her party and she said thank you, I could tell she was embarrassed, but I just told her to drink some more water and get some sleep.

The rest of my party did not get off the mountain until 10:00 p.m., and by that time i was home in my bed fast asleep... I am not to embarrassed about not making it to the top,  most of the people i went with who were older than 18  did not make it to the top either... But I am going to get my new mountain bike tomorrow and begin, once again, a workout  routine as I realize that my kids will want to do this, and if I don't get into shape, I won't be able to join them..

Well, the boys and I decided to brave the Ocean and go fishing for some Rock fish. It was a great time and it was actually the boys idea to make it an occasion every year. Caleb actually had an extensive conversation with the skipper of the boat informing him that we would be back here the same date and time next year.

We left the night before and spent the night at a hotel near Monterey. this is a vacation in and of it's self for the boys, they love staying in hotels!. unfortunately for them, but fortunately for the people in the rooms around us, we had to hit the hay early as we had to be on the boat at 6:30 a.m. We awoke at a little after 5 a.m. and got packed up and got to the dock at 6:15. the boys gathered their poles and we jumped on the boat.

The boys headed straight for the bow and immediately began having a blast as we rode the roller coaster waves. Initially the ocean was calm, until we got outside the bay, then the waves got BIG ,and the boys git a bit freaked out when the ocean would suddenly drop 15-20 feet under the bow.

Caleb Caught the first fish of the day, but William was just a little freaked out by the rocking of the boat and decided that in my arms was the best place to be. Spencer was immediately enthralled by the sport. he loved it.

After a while, I started to feel pretty bad, william and caleb were not doing so well either. they laid down and went to sleep, while I proceeded to lose last nights dinner over the railing....

Spencer Just kept on fishing and watching everyone else puke their guts out, including the Dept. of Fish and Game guy who was on the boat.

Spencer caught our limit, and we returned to the docks. the boys still said they had a great time. and want to go again. That makes it a great trip....

The boys started T-ball this past week, if you can believe it, William and Caleb are on the same team. Caleb is such a giant, i have to keep reminding myself that he is only going to turn seven next month! He is just as big, and I bet he weighs more than Spencer! while Willam on the other hand is small for his age. Caleb should really be in entry level baseball, not t-ball, but his coordination has just not quite caught up with his size.

William is loving it, he has been waiting for so long to be a part of something that bigger kids are doing. Caleb, being the ever jubilant kid that he is is the team cheerleader. we are close friends with 3/4 of the team. it is pretty silly. The Wards and the Christopersons kids and Jake and April's daughter Ellie.

It is raining... April showers bring may flowers right?