The Muench Bunch

Even though I got home late from the reunion and was very tired, I wanted to go to Mom and Dad's church before heading home. Sadly, I was the youngest adult there by a good 25 years, and the kids were the only ones there. It has been along time since I have gotten to attend a Sunday morning service and they have a new pastor. Pastor Jeff is from Cornerstone and they really like him. His sermon was very much familiar and applicable. He talked on love. He and his wife are very kind and friendly.  The pastor is trying to have town get togethers and BBQ's to draw more people in. He has enthusiasm and hopefully they can grow the church.

Erin, Jessica, and myself planned our 20 year class reunion. We combined the class of 1993 and 1994. The morning started out with golf. Only a few showed up for it, Jess, Paula, Matt, Dan, and myself. We were a small group but we sure enjoyed hanging out and catching up. We played best ball and ran out of time by hole #5. We had a picnic to get too at noon. We had a family picnic planned at the Blairsburg park. Erin did all the work for it providing walking tacos and snacks. She has two girls that are under 4 and a baby on the way, plus just finished her masters. She is one super mama! Grandma dropped Jake and Luke off at the park after eating at McDonald's, so much for the picnic. They had fun playing with the other kids and running around. It is always fun to see all the little mini versions of the parents. We finished the afternoon with a school tour. That really brought back the memories! It was fun to reminisce the old days, see the hallways and the gym where many games and P

Warren invited us down to the horse races. He owns a few race horses and has V.I.P seating. With the relatives visiting, they joined us for some entertainment at Prairie Meadows. Warren had enough seating for us all to have a spot at his tables front and center. We ordered food from the buffet and drinks were free. He bought a $20 voucher for each of the kids to use betting. I would have been happy to just sit and watch and teaching my kids to gamble is not one of my priorities. Warren is all about the betting. It was fun entertainment and Luke won $24 on his first horse he picked. The kids each bet $2 bets and had fun seeing money come and go. They all ended up just a few dollars ahead. It was a nice evening to be outside. We watched them saddle the horses and mount up the jockeys and could stand right by the finish line. There was a famous female jockey named Rosie that was running. She was favored so high in her race, it seemed a sure thing that she would win...she did not. All in

Mark's cousins girls came to visit all the relatives here in Iowa. Karley lives in Missouri and Melanie lives in Virginia. The girls wanted to spend some time with cousins. Today they came over to ride horses with Jayden. Yesterday had been so hot and humid it was unbearable. Today was pleasant, but lightly raining. The girls didn't let it ruin the day and rode the horses in the rain anyway. I think they could have enjoyed it more with a longer relaxing ride without the rain.  In the evening, everyone met at Karen and Orrie's for dinner. The dinner was planned for 6. I feel bad for Karen, always preparing so much food and planning to eat together. Most everyone else showed up at 7 and the Anderlik's didn't get there until 9. At the end of the night, the kids including the boys ended up going and staying with the Ferrari's. They wre super excited, they love going to their house which only happens once a year. 

We celebrated my Dad's 65th birthday at the Grid Iron in Webster City. It was kind of a surprise with all the extra friends invited. Happy Birthday Peepaw!

Jayden signed her dog Daisy up for the 4-H dog obedience classes. She has an interest in getting another dog/puppy. I told her she needed to spend time with the dog she has and take her to obedience training. She was only able to attend to three classes due to time conflict with serpentine practice. The first class she thought it was long and so boring. She continued to work with Daisy at home once in awhile and Daisy seemed to learn fast and wants to please. She is just such an affectionate dog that her love gets in the way sometimes. She wants to be petted constantly and  to be up close and in your face. I think she is making progress and I talked Jayden into taking her to the fair. She may not be the best obedient trained dog there, but why not give it a try for the experience. That's what 4-H is all about. You never know, Daisy may do great.

With my bad back ache and the rainy weather, Mark offered to take Jayden to her rodeo camp. She was excited to go for two full days. Makenna was supposed to go , but her horse got sick. We even offered her one of our horses to use, but she would not go. That didn't spoil Jayden's spirit. She was ready and thrilled. They left early in order to be at Widmer's arena in Deep River Iowa by 8:00 AM. The drove through some very heavy rain and late morning the kids had to leave horses in stalls and take cover because there had been a tornado spotted in the area,scary stuff. The clnic/camp was for kids and covered barrels, poles, and goat tying. Jayden had a great time, learned a lot, met some new people, ate well and was ready to go back and do it again. Mark watched a bit here and there, then went sight seeing. He stayed at a local hotel and Jayden stayed at the camp in the home. She won the goat tye contest, so got to be first in the shower. The boys stayed the night with Karen

I am a summer church helper and help in the Kindegarten room every other week all summer. Today my back was still hurting. There are so many of us that have such aches and pains. Karen gets cortizone shots in her neck, back, hip, and now she is having problems with a knee and may need surgery. Orrie had knee surgery in the fall, wears a brace on the opposite foot, and has been getting cortizone shots in his low back. Mark has had his hernia surgery, still has problems with his inner thighs when riding horses. He has had x-rays and went in for a second  cortizone shot in his other hip. My mom’s got problems with her arches in her feet.  My back and  neck bother me daily and I hate to imagine what I will be like as I age. 

I knew today would be hot. I heard earlier in the week high of 94 and humid. I was dreading the day. I made a pact with myself that I would not complain the entire day about the heat. I think my back hurt enough that I didn't notice the heat as much. Match of the broncs means I run the flags and barrels, Jayden carries the American Flag, and today she was competing barrels and flags. The day went fine. Jayden ran Traveler in barrels and he did great for his first time with her. He had so much power running home, she was afraid he wouldn't stop and slowed him a bit too soon. They were really running out of the third barrel. Her turns were great and he was going fairly fast in between. The picture we got is awesome. She did flags with Tex and had a pretty fast run of 12 sec. It was good for her to feel happy about her runs. It was a confidence boost.

After a crazy busy week, I was looking forward to a day at home. It was not a quiet relaxing day, but still  nice to just be in. Jayden and I started the morning off by riding horses. It was supposed to be a hot one, so we were up and riding early. Then I gave both horses a very thorough bath. I am not sure which of these things caused my low back to hurt, but I spent the rest of the hurting. All week Jayden has been picking my strawberries and today we were making and freezing jelly. Jayden has done an excellent job picking and it save my back. We got all the kids in on it today from picking to cutting. I had great help. We only did two batches for now, becuase of my back. In the evening Mark went roping and Jake went with and helped move the steers into the chutes. The went up town for cheeseburgers at 10PM before heading home. Jayden, Luke and I stayed in and watched a movie, with a little kitty friend.

 Last day of vbs with lots of neat demonstrations. Wanda Wonder the scientist showed flasks, how are hearts are dark and one flask was filled with black gunk  and then a flask with red liquid to represent Jesus dying on the cross to rid us of our sins. Then she mixed them and showed how through christ we are pure. They had a video clip from the skitguys.com showing messy snow and then white show. Very neat stuff. It was a fun week of VBS, early mornings getting there by 8:30Am and meeting new people. I worked all week with Sue Ann and enjoyed getting to know her. She is a lot like Carolyn and they are close freinds. After we met the Sullivan's for lunch at the park. The Sullivan’s are a family from Cornerstone that I have been following their lives through a blog. I am very intrigued and inspired by their stories as they travel twice a year to Ghana, Africa. I met Janel in bible study after she had adopted her first child from Ghana, Justice. They have two biological children and

This week is our church, Cornerstone's bible school. I was excited for it and was a helper in Jacob's 4th grade room. I have enjoyed it so far and met some nice people. Jacob had a bad moment with a kidin his group. Jacob spent each morning and the end of each VBS building and creating this car out of building tubes. he was pretty proud of it and worked a lot on it each free chance he could. One boy came over to him, picked it up and threw it into pieces on the ground. I think Jake was so shocked that somebody would do such a thing and he cried. It broke my heart and angered me to see that. This mam bear becomes a grizzly bear when someone hurts my child. Jacob cried and was so heart broken and angry, all he wanted was to just go home. The rest of the day went better and he had a lot of fun. The theme is "Nothing is impossible with our God". They have an opening with a silly scientist. She will often say, "that's impossible". They give the kids so many

I decided it was time to teach the kids to mow. Jayden is definitely old enough and Jacob is anxious to be able to drive a tractor. I started with mowing around everything and just making straight rows. Eventually Jayden was mowing well enough, she could do almost the entire yard. Jake doesn't have enough weight to hold down the seat and keep the mower running so we added a rock behind him. I still have to stay pretty close and walk beside him to show where he needs to go next. He is learning and likes to run it.

During the week of VBS, the kids enjoyed their time with Grandma and Grandpa. They got in on some fun fishing and making smores too. They also helped Auntie Alice celebrate her birthday.

The kids spent the week with my parents and attended vacation bible school in Kamrar. The kids had a blast. Tonight they put on a program for the parents. There was a corny mid-evil skit and lots of singing by the kids. The week was knight and mid-evil themed with the main focus on putting on your shield of armor. During the week the kids got to tye dye their won shirts and show them off. 

I debated whether to have Jayden go to the funeral for Kathlynn Sheperd. We both decided we should go. The memorial service was held in the Boxholm school gym. There was a large crowd that attended. The service was given by an uncle of Kathlynn. Sadly, he did not do a good job. Here was a crowd of 100's of people and it would have been awesome for them to hear a gospel message, something to draw them near Christ. It was not done well and the man had several mistakes and some of his words did not come out right making his statements just leave you thinking, did he really just say that? The Dad got up and spoke and his words were touching. He is good with his words and talked about making the world a better place. The memorial was a chance to end the worry and wonder. It is a chance for the family to gain closure and for the community to also. It has been hard on everyone. Kathlynn was taken with a caravan of cars and motorcycles to the Dayton cemetery. I hope through all of this, h

 I had big plans to get a lot done with the kids out of the house for the week. Mark and I went to Des Moines for an evening out just the two of us. We went out to dinner at the Italian restaurant. It was a nice evening so we sat out along the lake. Next we went to a movie at the Jordan Creek theater. We watched the Great Gatsby. It was a nice evening and I enjoyed our date night.

The kids had gone on to my parents for their week of VBS. I really wished they could have been there for the tree lighting with me. I went to the tree lighting for Kathlynn by myself. I wanted to show the family my support and wanted to be part of it. The town of Dayton decorated the biggest tree on the northwest side of town purple with lights and called it Kathlynn's tree of Hope. The family came and the Dad spoke. It was touching and heartbreaking. Romans 5:2-5   Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Mark has been interviewed and had another nice article in the paper about his design of part of the Salford strip till design.

The kids are off for the week of VBS in Kamrar. They are staying all week with Grandma and Grandpa. The church shuttles kids in from 4 towns and the VBS is from 9 to 3. Jayden gets to be a helper and the kids are really excited.

Mark went roping at the Dayton arena. Luke was excited to wear his new shiny gold spurs he got at an auction. He was all decked out and boy does he make a good looking cowboy. Jayden and I rode horses before it started. Jake and Luke discovered how they can be helpful and be entertained. We gave them a poker stick and they helped move the steers into the chute. They thought it was great fun and felt important that they were helping the ropers.

Around 8:00 while at the Dayton arena, I saw a cop SUV fly up the hill and my heart skipped a beat. My thoughts instantly went to Kathlynn. I don't know how, but I just knew. Kathlynn's body was found in the evening under the Boone Kate Shelley bridge in the river. Now, begins closure for family, friends, and the community. 1.         Dayton Leader Friday June 7 th Kathlynn was found   Official Statement from Michael Shepard: "Today our family has lost part of its soul. Not just the Shepard family, but the families of Dayton and all of Iowa. An innocent, caring, fun-loving child was taken from this world long before her time. Kathlynn has been found and is now at peace beside her Grandmother and Grandfather. She is in a place where there is no pain or violence. She is safe from the predators of this world, where no one can prey on her innocence. Our daughter was torn from our family and murdered.  Due to the current laws of this state, a repeat offender was giv

 The men are at work again with the bull dozer, excavator, and scraper. Even though I shake my head and still can’t grasp the idea, I know how important this arena is to Mark. Why can't I be thrilled and excited? Why does it bother me so, I really can't explain it. I need to be loving and supportive of it and I haven’t been that at all. It will be amazing, I know and I am sure we will enjoy it. My role as a wife is to be supportive of my husband and his choices. Those bull dozers have been working in between all the mud and rain all spring. It has been quite a project.  Rylie spent the day and spent the night so the boys were all play today. They went from covering each other up in the sand box to playing in the tent and then getting in mud in the arena. Those boys have so much fun together. I am so thankful they get along and get to spend so much time together. Cousins are some of the greatest friends. They played for hours in the basement little tractors, then spent so