Honoring Jim's life ~ April 26, 2008

To view the u-tube video from this day, there is a link to the left located just above the map.
It was a very special day and time with family.

Jim's one year anniversary April 26 2008

Here is the link to view the u-tube video that Ed put together. More pictures later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9debaNp1rS0

We Love and Miss you Jim

Please keep the Minich family in prayer as tomorrow April 26th is the one year anniversary from when Jim went home to God. Please pray for safe travel for those of us heading to Tulsa and that this will be a time to remember and honor Jim's life as well as a time for family to be together. Thanks all~ have a good weekend!

HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY MATTHEW!!

Today is Matt's 18th Birthday. He is away at school so we will not get to see him until tomorrow. This is the first time we will not be with him on his B Day :(
He is finishing his Freshman year at UTD and majoring in Geology.
His passions are music, song writing and photography.
We have loved the last 18 years with him. When he was born Chris and I had decided he was the last but when we both sat on the hospital bed holding him we said "how could this be the last one"? Well, that thought passed... and he is the "baby". So, we are officially parents of all adult kids and we love it! My favorite times with him are sitting and having coffee and talking (sometimes for hours) about life. He is wise beyond his years and a great conversationalist. Warning: make sure he has had his coffee in the morning before you try to talk to him ~ :)
Love you Matt~ Happy Birthday!!

Lake Murray Camping Trip

Chris and I headed out for Lake Ray Roberts on Friday morning for our 2nd camping trip with the camper. When we arrived, truck, camper, kayak's and bikes in tow they asked us if we had a reservation. Of course we did not, thinking we were ahead of the game, it's only April! Well, they looked at us like we were from Mars and said they were booked for the "for see able future"! So... off to Oklahoma to Lake Murray. They had campsites, look at the one we got :)
We had a great time and we are learning that RV camping is way different than tent camping. Here's a few things we noticed; At night tent campers are all huddled around the campfire on lawn chairs. Lot's of people and noise. RV camping, everyone is inside ( except for camper Larry that had the only other pop-up in the campground). I am assuming watching TV based on all the satellite dishes propped up outside their RV's. No one has to use the dreaded public bathrooms/showers. They already have them. Chris and I had them all to ourselves. Tent campers seem to keep to themselves more often ( you know getting away from everything and everyone) but RV camping we find people want to know their neighbors. Camper Larry even brought us apple pie that he made with his dutch oven! Then there was the boat full of drunk 20 year olds that "in their own words" let us know that they "owned" the campground and somehow Chris and I snuck by and got their favorite site. Oh well...
They went as far as to pull their boat up in our site, walk back and forth to their site ( to get more beer) and sit right there in our site with us. One of them even peed right there off the boat in front of us! Maybe we are getting old,that was not the camping etiquette we learned growing up.
Besides that, it was really fun and I even beat Chris in scrabble-twice! Our first game was neck in neck and I won by 2 points. Slaughtered him in the second game. That's big to beat a Minich twice!!!

Trail Mix on the Trail

Ok, last time we went camping I said I would not do this mountain biking thing again... but... I gave it another try and we ended up biking for 6-8 miles though the woods. It was a lot of fun, our bikes and legs were covered in mud, and I will do it again. We both noticed that our legs held out with no problems because of the running we have done over the last year- what a bonus, we were not even sore after hours of this!

We almost didn't bring the kayak's, I am sure glad we did. We spent much of Saturday afternoon out as well as Sunday before we headed home. On Sunday, it was very windy and the water was quite choppy. White capping in some areas. We went anyways, and it was so fun! Getting across the lake you had to paddle constantly or you would get blown down the lake. On the way back, here's the fun part, the wind rode you home and we got to "ride the waves" back to our campsite. These pics are obviously from the day before, we couldn't bring the camera on Sunday. This is a shot of our campsite from the water :) What a great spot!

Moonlight Kayak

There was a full moon Saturday night so we decided to take a "moonlight Kayak" . If you look closely, you can see my shadow. It was an experience and so beautiful. We even saw a shooting star while we were out there...and yes, we made a wish :)

10 year anniversary in our home today~ April 10th

Last night at 4 am we were all woken up by some strong Texas storms. There were severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings all over the place. This morning I let Ryo out back to find one of my Bradford Pair tress split right in half! So disappointing. Well, our 10 year anniversary came in with a bang!
It's amazing how fast that time has gone by. We have watched Matt go from 8 to 18, all 3 boys graduate high school and go to college, learn how to drive, have first dates, and go from boys to men.
The backyard has gone from a dirt lot to a soccer field, to a place you would see Kevin flying through the air on the trampoline to the now vegetable garden and parking spot for the camper.
The upstairs has transformed from a school room to a game room to a workout room, and instead of bedrooms filled with kids we now have an office and a guestroom.
We have been through good and bad times but mostly good, with lots of laughing, jokes and fun times out back. We have celebrated many holidays here with our favorites being Christmas and Halloween. It has been a good 10 years!

10 year anniversary in our home today!

It doesn't happen often~

This is a sight you will not often see, all of us ( well, most of us) dressed up,at the same time.

We spent Saturday at the wedding of Daniel & Amanda. Daniel has been Tim's roommate for the last 5 years while they went through college. Tim was one of the groomsmen. It was a beautiful wedding and such a privilege to see Daniel, Amanda and their group of friends go from college freshman to this point in all of their lives.
We have been fortunate to have this group of Tim's friends over for dinners, BBQs, football games, and several holidays over the years. We enjoyed spending time and getting to know each of them.

The Bride & Groom!

Daniel & Amanda's wedding day

Chris & Elayne

3 GUYS!