The Muench Bunch

12/31/16 New Years Eve was pretty quiet. The weather has been holding nice and mild. Everything is brown and yellow outside without any snow. Temperatures are staying around 40 and we are spending time outdoors. Last night Mark and the boys along with Dan and his boys went to see Star Wars in the theater. I was disappointed in the last big episode when Hans Solo was killed. I didn’t really enjoy it much, so the boys had a Dad and son outing. Tonight, New Year's Eve, Mark took the boys skiing in the evening. Jayden and I weren’t up to going.  Us girls rode horses and Jayden had a friend Kelsi come and ride in the afternoon. In the evening, Jayden and I went to Boone and watched the boys ski a few times. Luke had to wait until I was there to finally take the big leap and get on the chair lift. We have been pressuring him for 3 years to go up the chair lift and finally while I was watching he got on for the first time. I took a picture of the moment. Now, we can ski in Colorado! He s

Little Miss Reese Alexander was born on December 2016. She is the new baby girl of Darrell and Lauren Alexander. They just celebrated baby Quinn's first birthday at the end of September. Darrell and Lauren waited and planned for many years for baby number one. They went through many trials of infertility and with much medical intervention, Quinn was born. Now without any medical help, little Reese surprised them all. They have two tiny blessings and have their hands full!!

The past two days have felt a lot like a spring day coming out of the winter. The sun is shinning and temps around 45. There is no snow on the ground and little wind. We have enjoyed it and spent some time outside. Each of the kids enjoys their own thing. Jacob got to learn how to ride his new motorcycle that he got for Christmas. Mark gave him some quick instruction and off he went. There probably isnt another Christmas that I can remember where there is no snow on the ground. It is perfect for learning to drive a motorcycle. Jake made a few laps and he was confident and crusing around. He is doing great and just loves it. He goes around the farm and down the hay lane. He rides for an hour at a time. Luke got out his Christmas gift cross bow and shot some arrows into a round bale aiming at his target. Jayden got out her baby colt and took him for a walk in the arena and tied him. He is coming along great for her. She picks up his feet and leads him around. It has been great enjoying a

The after Christmas crash and a sigh of relief.  We gather for Christmas present opening frenzy at both Grandparenst and the presents just overflow and overwhelm. Today my house looks like a tornado hit with wrapping paper, bags, totes, boxes, and random presents scattered throughout. All this stuff, where will we put it all?  I have been trying to declutter my home and get ride of "stuff", just in time to add more "stuff". Christmas has become such an overwhelming time of the year, it takes so much away from what we are really celebrating. It is hard to worship, praise, celebrate, and be in awe of our Lord and Savior's special day. Luke woke up hot with fever and sore throat. Jayden had her cousin/friend Jaynie spend the night and was planning on riding horses. My friend Jessica Cross texted that she would like to meet for lunch. I looked at Luke, I looked at the disaster of my house and literally could not walk from the front door to the back door the floor wa

Christmas morning is always filled with excitement and anticipation. Fortunately everyone is tired and nobody wakes too early in the morning. I like to sneak out and turn on Christmas music and the tree lights and grab my camcorder. Luke got a compound bow, Jayden got clothes and a shutterfly album of her year in horses, Mark got a surround sound speaker system for the television that Luke picked out with me. I was super excited to get my Pioneer Woman pots and pans. I like to pretend I am the Iowa Pioneer woman, I blog, I take photos, I homeschool, I ranch, I farm, I have 3 kids, dogs, and horses. We opened gifts until the last one was opened. Then we told Jacob that there was one we forgot to bring in and was out in the  Tahoe. We had him walk around the side where his motorcycle was waiting. His hands went to his head and he kept saying "No way" "This is mine?" He was so excited, he ran and gave Mark a hug. He was beaming. That was the big surprise of the year.

It doesn't feel like Christmas without snow. It has been brown and drab, so I was happy I got my wish to have a white Christmas. We got a few inches of snow a couple days ago and it was expected to melt. I was glad to look out and still see white covering the ground.Everything was white, but as the day went on, the rain came down and wind picked up. It made for a nasty day outside, but nothing that caused bad road conditions. We headed to Williams for the Wahlert Christmas. Aunt Alice was here for Christmas this year too, so that made it extra special. We had lunch and Christmas goodies followed by presents. The day was pretty fast paced with little time to sit, visit and relax. It was go from the start. The presents seemed to keep coming and coming even though this year we were to trade names with one person and give to a charity of our choice. In the end with the pile of gifts, I would have to say there were more gifts than ever. My favorite idea came from my dad, he had taken a

Once again it was taekwondo testing for Luke. I decided to take taekwondo with Luke for fun and the exercise, so I opted not to test. Jake, Luke, and I went. Luke likes to have people come and watch, this time Grandma and Grandpa Wahlert came to watch. Luke did a great job on the 4 segments of his forms, he takes it very serious, especially on testing night. He was the only one below a black belt to break both his boards on his first try.  He got a lot of high fives for that. He did a back fist punch and a side kick for his board breaks. Tonight he tested for his blue belt. Watching, it kind of made me want to jump in there and test. I heard about it from many in the class. Afterwards, I let Luke pick where he wanted to eat as a reward. He chose Hu Hut Mongolian grill. Grandma and Grandpa went with and the boys went home to stay with them after.

Jayden has been working with her baby colt daily. She goes into his pen and rubs all over his face and body. She has been able to put his halter on and off. She also picks up his feet. She is making great progress with him. He has started to get a little pushy with her and kicked her once. She is not sure what to do at this point. I got in touch with the Kalahar family from 4H and their sone Trevor came out to help Jayden. It was great to have somebody give us advice and show us a few things. He led the colt around the lot a few times having to swat his rear once in awhile. Jayden made a few laps, then we took him into the arena and tied him for the first time. He stood for 15 minutes and did great. We both felt so much relief after making so much progress in one day. Sometimes it just takes somebody to guide you and help you in the next step. I am relieved to have someone we can turn to for questions and willing to come to the house. Next on the list, vaccinate baby.

12/18/16 Saturday we celebrated Torrie Ferrari graduating from college by joining her family at 209 Main in Paton. It was a bitter cold morning, so there was not a crowd. In fact we were the only ones outside of the bar crowd. The temps were single digit and the wind was blowing a lot. Torrie graduated from ISU in Ag. Studies. She has taken a job with New Coop in sales. She is very serious with her boyfriend Jake, who we all like.  Sunday in the early morning hours. The temps kept dropping and with the wind chill it was well into the negative temps.  Churches in the area were even cancelling. We stayed in and warm, except Mark had to do cattle chores. I did horse chores. By late morning the wind wasn’t too bad so choring wasn’t awful.  Sunday evening we had dinner at Karen and Orrie’s with Blake and Ali. She will be working on Christmas day, so we had our gift exchange with them. It was nice to get to know Blake a little more and the kids and I played a game of Sequence with him a

In November, Morgan came and rode in our arena a few times in preparing for the Junior NFR. Lately Jayden has lined up roping nights. It started with Tony and CJ. It has grown with ropers of all kinds. We keep it people we know and only rope the hot heels pulled behind the gator. Mark ropes and keeps sharp at heading and heeling. He is also helping Jayden on her young horse Joker learn. She is also working with her weanling learning how to lunge. 12/15/16 It is currently  11 degrees with the weather stating it feels like -4 and I said, no I am not riding horses. I decided to stay in and stay warm. These rodeo people are crazy. All winter and they decide “today” to get a group together to rope and ride in the arena. Yes, we have the privilege of riding in an indoor arena. However, you still have to catch horses, groom, saddle and ride. Others are coming to ride, they have to catch and haul. In my opinion it is too cold!! It is also so hard on the horses, not only hauling, but getti

Jayden took two college classes, one at the Ogden high school, and one was online through DMACC. The Class at the high school was nice as Jayden got to know many of the students in her class and enjoyed the interaction. She was in a class with all seniors and several football players. Her teacher at the beginning was really slack and had low expectations. She basically told the kids if they do their assignments they will all get an A in the class. This is considered a college level class, so I had higher expectations. Midway through the semester, the teacher was fired after she was found hungover, sleeping under her desk. From that point on it was all sub teachers. Jayden didnt get much out of the class other than a perfect grade. The DMACC online class was a 5 credit Western Civilization class with a ton of reading. Each week, Jayden would have to read over 50 pages and take a quiz. It was so time consuming, extremely hard reading, and a lot to understand and remember. I couldnt even

In October, I had my first taekwondo class in almost 20 years. Luke has been taking taekwondo now for a couple years. He takes the summer off and recently took a 9 month break. He is back in and tested for his purple belt. Watching all his classes, I have always had the urge to join him and jump back in. I have always enjoyed taekwondo and the exercise. Since we finished harvest I thought that would free life up a bit and I could make it work. Luke was very excited and anxious for me to start. The instructor Master Phillips was all for it and told me I could wear my green belt. I felt a little awkward and silly jumping in with a group that has been doing it for so long and being a higher belt. There are mostly kids and a few adults. Even more bizarre was my co-worker from FDAH and his kids are in the class. Kevin worked in the lab and while working I visited with him daily. He was always a very nice guy and I enjoyed working with him. Now I get to take class with his 14 year old daugh

Our neighbor and hired man, Tony, has taken Jake out on a few hunting and trapping outings. They got several raccoon, a badger, and most recently got a coyote. Jake was pretty excited and enjoys it. 

Our last day in Vegas. The forecast back home was a low of 9. Here the sun was shinning and it was going to be in the 60's. It felt so crisp and nice outside it made it so hard to leave . I will not miss the traffic, the big city, the half dressed hoochie mamas, the casino sounds and smells. I will miss the weather, the beautiful buildings, the cobwoy hats, the cowboys, the kind country folks, and of course the big rodeo. It was a fun trip, a special time for Jayden and I, a memory made. I am thankful for the chance to make it out here, thankful that Mark is supportive and sent us on this trip while staying home taking care of the boys and doing chores in the cold for all our many critters. We got up and ready had our hotel buffet, then took a walk to the Venetian hotel across the street. The air was fresh and cool, a light sweatshirt and it was perfect. The Venetian had boats and a feel of Italy. It was so cool inside, like you were in a palace. The ceilings were painted up, the s

Dec 10 Today our agenda was shopping. We started our morning by having a big breakfast at our hotel buffet. Part of our package deal was 2 buffets a day, otherwise we would have had to pay $65/per person for our breakfasts. Things are crazy expensive when in Vegas. Next we had to find a way to South Point ,which is off the strip and out of the main transportation, so we took an Uber. I had not heard of Uber until this trip and Jayden explained it to me. Basically a person gets certified to be an Uber driver and picks you up and drops you off similar to a Taxi, but at half the cost, and you ride in the persons personal car. It is a genius idea and very convenient, but you have to have an App on your phone, sign up to have an Uber come, it took only a few minutes. You can see on your app where the person is on a map en route to getting you. They tell you the make and model of their vehicle and a profile picture. You prepay using paypal before they arrive. They pick you up and drop you of

On Thursday, Jayden and I were headed to Vegas. Just us girls were headed out to the National Finals Rodeo. Mark and I talked about it a year ago and planned it out to be a special trip that we knew Jayden would love. Mark had no interest in going to Vegas at all. He was happy to send Jayden and I. The National Finals Rodeo is the super bowl of rodeos and when that is your sport, going to Vegas is like a dream. We knew the Nelson family would be in Vegas too, which helped with the idea of being there just the two of us in such a big scary city. Morgan qualified to compete in the Junior National Finals. Today our flight was an 11:30 flight. There was a loud and crazy bachelor party going on. The seats on the plane were not assigned, so the guys were scattered all over the plan including one who sat with us. He was built, tan, and super friendly. He was in his twenties and living the ultimate bachelor life, in his opinion. In my mind, he was crazy and out of control. He told us all abou