The Muench Bunch

The boys and friend Alex went to the Science Center in Des Moines. It was paid for through the Ogden homeschool and we had a really fun time.

3/30/16 On Sunday Jayden had a sore throat. On Monday she felt terrible lousy and I took her to the doctor. She was negative for strep and sent home to take  Tylenol  and wait it out. That is never fun. Two days later still with a fever and achy joints, it seemed she was getting worse rather than better. We  didn't  want to go back to the same doctor and hear the same thing so Mark took her to his doctor in Ogden, Dr. G. Once again they did a strep test and it came back negative. They decided to give her penicillin anyway. This doctor likes to give antibiotics for sore throats. She really wants to run in the rodeo this weekend, but I am not sure. 

Even though Jayden and Jake are getting older, Luke still enjoys getting in on the fun of the holidays. He made sure to decorate easter eggs. He also is very fortunate to be an easter bunny imposter with his two front teeth. Not everybody gets to have two front teeth like a bunny at Easter. Allie has been working full time at the nursing home in Ft. Dodge. She works the 2PM until 10 PM shift. She hasn’t quite figured out how best to manage her time and typically sleeps until she has to get ready for work. She sleeps a lot even on her days off. She came out to see the boys and spent most of her time asleep in the chair. Jake is our lego kid. He can sit and build for hours. It is a great bordem buster. He is so creative. He built this airplane on his own without any instruction. I took a video of him explaining all of it. He explains all the gadgets and how they work, what type of engine, how the turbo engines work, how it even has an emergency seat drop out. He has a lot of

3/27/16 Easter Sunday the kids woke up to see what the Easter bunny had left. I think Luke was feeling like the bunny was a little skimpy this year on treats. As the kids get older it seems the Easter bunny is lightening the load that comes to our home. Our church had a great service with a video about the tearing of the veil. The video was done so well and professional with great sound and qualityt. It was very impactful and shared the gospel well. There ware also 3 people that gave their God story.  Cornerstone does an awesome job making videos and doing dramas, so many talented people. We attended the service in Boone which now has its own name Stonebridge. Allie also joined us and really liked the church. She could easily get to church before work on Sundays and said she would like to. She doesn't have to be to work until 2. We had Easter dinner at Karen’s with all the family. We also celebrated Karen’s birthday. 40 days ago on Ash Wednesday Jacob attended Corner

3/26/16 Laura is a friend that I went to college with at ISU. She was on the rodeo team and was a barrel racer too. We had many road trips to rodeos together. Over the years I have gotten together with her for lunch in Des Moines, taken baby photos of her children, and Mark and I have gone out to dinner with her and her husband Tanner. We figured it has been 5 years since we have gotten together. How time gets away! Tonight we planned an outing with them and Mark’s friend Scott and wife Linda, who we discovered know one another. Laura wanted to meet at the Latin King Italian restaurant in Des Moines. We had never been and it turned out to be a neat place. Another couple was also invited and a surprise to us. They were a young couple that Laura is friends with. He also is a farmer that Mark knows of and doesn’t think too highly of. We all had a nice time and good conversation. It was a long wait for our table and lots of wine and alcohol was flowing. Not for me, but the others kept get

3/25/16 Jayden has competed in three barrel races so far this year. She has been exercising and working with Ace and anxious to start the season. Last year he had an injury that kept him out for the season. This year she is more than prepared. She has been riding all winter, reading lots of forums, books, and watching videos to learn all she can. Jayden’s last two competition runs were in the top for time. Last weekend she ran against 56 barrel racers and took second place. She ran in the open division with tough competition, not in the youth. Today she ran at Ellsworth community college’s awesome indoor arena. They had an open barrel race and Jayden ran a 15.49 and took 7 th overall. She feel in the crack just out of the 2D. They only placed to 3 rd in each division. Ace ran fast, but had a couple errors that cost him some time. That makes it even more awesome because she could have shaved some time on her run without a doubt. Seeing her run and knowing some of the girls she is run

3/24/16 Friendships are a complicated thing. I have prayed many prayers to have good friends or a close friend for myself and for my kids. Friends are important. Everyone needs someone to confide in, trust, talk to, lean on, enjoy each others company, and just have fun with. I am always amazed at how a friendship can go on for years and so many good times and tears can be shared, special times, and memories. Yet, a friendship can be ended in one moment. One simple act or words can ruin a friendship. For some the friendship turns sour and bitter feelings come between the two. All those good times and memories become a blur and are forgotten and only bitterness remains. Why and how is that even possible? I do not understand. God has given me the understanding of what it means to truly forgive. Jesus is the utmost example of forgiveness and grace for us to try to live by. Through Him I can forgive. I may not forget, but I can forgive and put the past behind and look ahead. I know true fr

3/20/16 On the first day of spring, there was a skiff of snow on the ground. Yesterday it snowed pretty good. At first it was just tiny flakes , but eventually they were big a nd fluffy and covered the ground. It is not feeling too springlike around here!  Today my aunt Rose got married. It is crazy to think she nearly died less than a year ago. Her heart was failing and she had open heart surgery, she had a stroke, was in a coma, and nearly lost her life. Today she is very much full of life and starting a new marriage. I am happy for her and pray for a blessed marriage. God had big plans for her and a new heart full of love!

3/18/16 This semester I was more intentional about having a monthly field trip outing and serve in some way. We had our big field trip last week to all the museums. Today I took the kids to Des Moines to package meals for Meals from the Heartland. This is something that we have done a few times now. It is so  important  to model for your children what it means to serve and why and who. I want the kids to have compassion for the less fortunate and needy, the ones the bible refers to as,"the least of these". We worked a 2 hour shift with a team of 10 putting ingredients into bags that once prepared will feed 6 people. In the two hours with all the teams helping, we packaged some 61,000 bags. It is a very simple way to serve a great way kids can experience that and participate. I don’t know why more people don’t participate. Jake takes his job very serious and was even cleaning up afterwards. 

The before and after pictures from Jake's latest haircut. He had been growing a mullet. It was getting long and thick and mama was starting to think he looked a bit grungy. It was time for a summer cut and a big change. Notice Jake is wearing his most favorite shirt he wears a couple times a week of his most favorite car, the Pacer. 3/16/16 This week was spring break for a lot of the Ames schools. Jayden’s youth group leader Donna invited all the girls to the movie, “Miracles from heaven.” I took Jacob with me to the movie and we sat in a different section and enjoyed it too. It was an excellent movie. JMO (Just My Opinion) While there are tons of movies in  theaters  that are crude, violent, gory, and full of poor language, sexual immorality, and evil, it is good to see that there are some good movies still being made and played. I am encouraged to see at this time some previews for upcoming movies including, Young Messiah, Risen, Miracles from Heaven, Ben Hur, and Go

3/15/16  The last 3 days have been very nice days in the 60’s. it is starting to feel a little more like spring all the time. Sunday was rough on all of us with the time change. We had to be up and at church extra early for hospitality and today we left at 8:30Am which was like 7:30Am from what we were used to. We were dragging a bit. Then after church we spent our day outside. I cleaned some horse blankets and the shop area. I went until I collapsed in bed to sleep. Monday we had to be in Fort Dodge for a fundraiser. Jayden’s TMRA rodeo group was hosting a fundraiser at Pizza Ranch. The kids bus tables for 4 hours and get 7% of all sales, plus donations. Luke and I went to get his hair cut and some groceries along with eating. Grandma and Grandpa W and Wade's family went over for dinner too. Today was nice until around 2:00 we got some strong wind and rain. The farrier came and put shoes on our 4 horses. It is so expensive $150 for a set of 4 shoes per horse every 6 to 8 weeks.

3/13/16 We got home from our road trip vacation. Jayden had big plans, so she was off with her friends Erica and Makenna. The boys wanted to go to Grandparents. That left a quiet evening alone and worked out to celebrate our 17 th anniversary. I dressed in my new boots and denim dress Mark picked out as an anniversary gift on our trip. We dressed like we were going out to eat and I lit some candles and poured some wine with our dinner. We had a quiet evening and watched a western movie by the fireplace. Sometimes just the quiet evenings home are better than going out.

Tuesday March 8 we left for Omaha for a family vacation road trip. Our fist stop was Omaha to the Union Station train musesum in the old town part of Omaha. There was much to see and do there. I could not resist taking photos with the train station statues.   While in town we also went to an aviation museum, children’s museum and western store. The boys enjoyed the aviation museum the most. We got to wallk under huge WWII planes and see many different ones. Some of them were huge bombers. After two nights in Omaha, we headed to Kansas City and stayed one night at the Great Wolf Lodge. I have a hard time staying at the Great Wolf Lodge because I feel like it is a money vacuum. It feels like they are trying to suck as much money from you as they can. It won’t be long and they will be charging for a towel, inner tubes, and the chair to sit on. If they can find a way to make more money off you they will. It is so overpriced to stay there, in my opinion all the little extras should be