The Muench Bunch

Halloween fell on a Tuesday. I took the boys to Ames, got them hair cuts and flu shots. Jake had a youth group get together in Ames at one of the boys house. They ate pizza, got in costumes and trick or treated around the neighborhood. Costumes were easy this year. Jake dressed as an 80's dude and Luke wore his hot dog costume yet another year. I took Luke to a few houses in town then met up with the Buhr's. Luke went with the girls for another hour until they were so cold they came back. I sat and visited with Angelia. We finished the night stopping by the neighbor lady, Margo's. She gets very few visitors and looks forward to our stop.

We did school in the morning and the boys had their freind Tyson come over and spend the night. He is in between the boys ages at 11 years old. He is fun, high energy, and a little trouble maker. The boys spent the majority of their time playing video games, the only thing Tyson really liked to do. I got pizza from Casey's and fed everyone in the field too. Jayden had her Escape youth group church retreat at Hidden Acres. She got all dressed up at home to see what her costume for Saturday night would look like. The theme was 80's and Jayden was dressed perfect for it. She had the outfit, the hair, and even the bright pink lipstick. She was rockin it!  She had so much fun at her retreat. She said the dance had three groups of people. The ones that would dance a little  awkwardly, the ones that wouldn't dance and just watched, and the group that had a blast and danced to all the songs wild and crazy, that was Jayden's group. The rest of her small group was all in the corn

After watching and hearing one of our church worship team guitar players play a cool guitar part, Luke kept talking about wanting to play the guitar. One Sunday in the spring I approached the guitar player, Mich, who is a deacon in the church, plays guitar on the worship team, and father of 4. He has never given lessons, but said he was willing. We started lessons in the summer and Luke has begun to play a few songs. It is a hard process and Luke was learning chords. Mich would meet anywhere from every other week to once a month. Not ideal for keeping up, but we were happy he was helping. Mich is very kind and good with Luke. They talk tractors, farming and aircraft carriers. Mich told Luke about his start in the Navy when he picked up a guitar and learned to play. He doesn't read music, but plays well. He loaned Luke his first guitar and he has been using it instead of his youth sized one. Luke learned to play "Amazing Grace" chords and tabs and is learning to sing and p

Her life is her horses... This girl is all about her horses. She rides, trains, chores, reads, researches, buys, sells, and competes on her horses. She loves every part, except the chores. She has her hands full and there is always a horse that needs ridden. I am not sure what her future holds, but I know it will always include a few horses!

The week of October 22 On Sunday I went to church alone and had to fill in for Jayden in childcare in the baby room. I got to hold and entertain babies. The goal, to keep the babies happy until church is over. It is constant walking, rocking, and entertaining. It is an easy job when there are only two babies. Mark stayed home, he was tired from the week. Jayden left early in the morning for a barrel race in Elkhart. It was a fall series running into December. She took the Bloomer with both Ace and Joker. I don’t like her going by herself, but she will be 18 soon and I need to let her be independent. It still causes me to worry.  After church, Mark and Luke picked me up from church and we went to watch Jayden at her barrel race. There was a big turnout for the series, with over 100 in the open. They drug the ground every 5, so it made for a long show. They ran two shows back to back and you had the option when you entered to carry over your first run to the second show. It was a g

Saturday Jayden and I went shopping all day in Des moines. We left in the morning and spent the day shopping. we didn't have a list or things we were needing, so with less pressure, we had fun and found some cute things. Jayden and I had such a fun time, we laughed at each other and silly things. We are so much alike sometimes its just like shopping with my best friend, she is my best friend. i am going to miss her so very much when she goes off to college. I cherish these times together! On our way home, we met the Buhrs, Mark, and Luke at a restaurant in Luther. Mark took Luke to his first 4H rifle discipline class in Fort Dodge. He learned gun safety and got to shoot in a shooting range. He had a great time. Sadly, the 4H program has to keep things pretty quiet because of all the pressure on gun control. Sunday I took Jake and Luke to connection group while Jayden and Mark rode horses. I really enjoy the connection group time and tonight we had some pretty good discussions a

When the ground was just about fit to combine, once again the rain came. Yesterday was gloomy and misty all day. This morning there was a heavy fog and soon thunder and light rain. Tomorrow there is a 90% chance of rain. The rain is keeping the mood gloomy and the farmers anxious. Mark's nerves are about shot. Waiting and watching the weather and knowing that time keeps ticking drawing closer to winter is hard for him. This week we had our usual Monday and Wednesday taekwondo classes. Jayden has been riding her new horses. My first impressions of these horses are: the palomino filly is only 2, she is pretty colored with cool eyes. She is sweet and has a very good handle. She is already well broke, walks, trots, lopes, pivots, and is very quiet. The grey horse seems to have a lot of energy. When ridden he is full of energy and seems to want to just run. He gets faster and faster and looks like he would get hot super easy. He is timid and acts as though he has been abused and doesn

 Tuesday, the ground was just drying up enough to get back in the field when more rain. It was cold rainy and steady. We have so little harvested and now we are waiting. All this rain was so needed in July and August, but not now. Last Friday we got several inches of rain. Sunday was up in the 80's and I had to turn the A/C on because it was hot and humid. Today we had to turn the heat on, it was down in the 40's. Only in Iowa can you switch from A/C to heat back and forth in the same week multiple times. We have not been able to combine all week. The forecast showed more rain, so Mark and I planned a last minute outing. We took off for Des Moines. first going out to a movie.  I had heard about a theater where you order food and have a waiter serve you during the movie. The movie was a survival/love story called "The Mountain Between Us." It was a good show and we enjoyed our food. After that, we stayed in a hotel in downtown Des Moines. The building was from the 190

Elaine and Terje Walthinsen came back from Oregon to visit. This is the first time I had seen Terji since his accident. He was in a terrible car accident that nearly took his and his sons lives. It is incredible that he survived and I never thought he would be able to make the trip back to Iowa. He looked so good and is doing well. He recently had knee surgery and his neck has vertebrae that are fused making his range of motion limited in his neck. He had months of rehab and surgeries to get to where he is today. The Lord spared his life and he is a miracle for sure. While back we all went out to dinner at Apple Bees and enjoyed nice conversations. Jake was working on his Farmall M tractor and got it up and running during the week so he was very excited to take it out and show it off. Luke got to play Amazing Grace on his guitar for Elaine. She plays herself and loves to sing and play. They are a sweet couple.

The journey began on Thursday afternoon, Aunt Alice and Jayden left for North Dakota. After much figuring, they settled on the best route. Jayden did most of the driving, in fact most of the trip home. Alice was very impressed by Jayden's driving and navigating abilities. She felt very unsure in the beginning, but was confident in Jayden at the end. She just couldnt believe how well she did for her age of only 17. They drove until 9 Pm and stayed in Sioux Falls South Dakota. At home, Jayden left me with her horses, her children. I knew I would be doing horse chores, feeding, graining, etc. However, having two horses that needed doctoring was not on my plan. Both Ace and Joker had problems and Jayden was sure they would be fine. Ace's leg worried me and after sending pictures and talking to a vet friend I decided to wrap his leg. After talking to the farrier about Joker's abscess, he gave me instructions to keep his foot clean and treat it and wrap it, soak it and keep it co