The Muench Bunch

Mark had visitors to his shop, an Agricultural group from Germany came and had a question and answer time about crops. Eagle went to a new home with little Dakota. She had taken lessons on him for two summers and seemed the perfect home. She was all smiles and so excited! Luke was sad, but glad he would be close. He took him on one last trail ride and said his goodbyes. >Mark took his Salford to the Farm Progress show in Boone. The boys spent a day with Dad at the show at the end of August. Jake found his friend Tyson to walk around with for most of the day. Ali continues to enjoy her job as pharmacy tech at Target. It seems to be a great fit for her. Mark got our new farm sign for the corner on F avenue. It looks so professional and nicely done.

Ali has a little sister that is 2 1/2 named Izzy. Currently her cousin is taking care of her because Ali's mom lost her parental rights due to drugs. While the cousin has been taking care of Izzy, her mom continues to create conflict. The cousin can't handle Ali's mom and the stress that comes with it and wants to give Izzy up to Foster care. It is a really sad situation and Ali and Blake had made a decision to adopt her. I was surprised when she told me and think it is a gigantic leap. Ali doesn't want to have anything to do with her mom, yet she wants to adopt Izzy as her daughter. Ali and Blake are just getting started and have two kids already. I think Blake is a pretty amazing guy to even consider it. I think it is awesome that they have such big hearts to take on adopting Izzy, I just pray for them as they proceed. It would be life changing for all of them. Later....After much talk and consideration, one night they were 100% on board and were proceeding with the

First weekend on campus...Jayden headed back to Ames to stay in the dorm Saturday night. Her roommate left for the weekend and she met a couple girls on her dorm floor that wanted to go see the hypnotist. There were lots of things planned for the incoming freshmen all weekend long. That is those that wanted to go, the rest of campus was in full party mode. Apparently, as I learned from Jayden, Saturday was the biggest party day of the year on campus. They call it 801, at 8:01 Am the sororities and fraternities can officially start drinking and they drink all day and night. Jayden's dorm is right in between the Greek homes. She has a lot of sorority girls on her dorm floor. It isn't just the Greeks that party, it's all around. I think it was all kind of a culture shock for Jayden. Since move in day on Wednesday, Jayden discovered her roommate does in fact have a boyfriend who will be visiting often. She met the dorm building supervisors, who have to identify by the proper pr

Found... 5 years ago our little community was shaken by the kidnapping and death of Kathlynn Shepherd. Our little small town, safe town where our kids attend school, two girls kidnapped. One escaped and ran free, but will never be the same. Today 5 years later, another victim. Mollie T, who had been missing for a month. Since July 20th, we have wondered and waited. With technology and criminal investigations, we kept thinking she couldn't just disappear. We prayed and I thought of her often, being close to Jayden's age. Her father and family posted signs, made shirts, buttons, did all they could in searching for his daughter who went missing. They poured time and money into investigations and traveled posting signs, billboards, and news interviews, not giving up. They had a booth at the Iowa state fair passing out flyers and info. It was only days after the fair when she was found.  She went jogging and was house sitting in a small town, the town of Brooklyn.  I had been to th

What's in the News.... It's not good, what's in the news most of the time. If you turn on the television and watch the 7am, noon, 5:00 or 10:00 news, there is very little positive in the news. There hasnt been a single day that Trump hasnt been in the forefront of the news since his election. He is the number one topic and most criticized. I don't watch the news much at all. In fact I avoid it most of the time and try to just catch the weather channel instead. Every once in awhile, I tune in and get more than I wanted of bad news. This week I heard about a compound in New Mexico on a man's land where some muslims were training young children to become school shooters. They were living in underground tunnels 100 feet long. They were living in filth and starved. There were tons of weapons and shooting targets. A young child died when they performed an exorcism on him. The saddest part, a women lawyer let them off after 2 days since they didn't show proof of an act

ISU Move in... Mark, Jacob, and I took Jadyen to the college dorm's Geoffery Hall. They are such nice dorms! They still have a fresh "new" smell to them. They are neat and clean, air conditioned and modern.    They were very organized with carts and people to help move her in. It took one load and we were done. Taylor, Jayden's roommate had already moved in and was there to meet us. Jayden got all her stuff situated and tried to arrange her little space. So many kids were moving in and Ames was a bustling place. Across the street from her dorms is the Alpha Gamma Rho Agger fraternity. The boys were whooping and hollering and playing their music loud. That is the fraternity that I was a little sister in.  We also saw lots of sorority girls all done up and wearing skimpy dresses. After watching them prance around for awhile, Jayden told me she made a good choice. She had considered a sorority for about a day. Move in day for Jayden was very exciting, but yet sad at the

Ali  had a rough go after her senior year in high school. I am sure it was not easy  having two sets of parents trying to raise you with two entirely different upbringings. When Ali's mother got involved with drugs, things fell apart for that side of the family pretty quickly. It continues to be brokenness and heartache. Ali made attempts at college, only to be pulled away by all the drama with her mom and families. She moved away for several years down south in Missouri, got a job, and lived with relatives. When she moved back to Iowa, in 2016 she eventually met Blake. When Ali met Blake, she changed. She had someone to focus on other than herself and all the drama her mom put her through. She had a person to build a relationship with and someone to care for that truly cared for her in return. We weren't crazy about the idea of them moving in together. In fact we made it clear that we did not support them in that way. It is so common anymore,  for them it just made sense. A

8/2/18 Jayden's friend Erica invited her to a team roping clinic put on by a well know team roping family, the Day's. Jayden took her Okie horses, Wess and Astro to the clinic. She took the Bloomer trailer and followed Erica and her Dad. I like when the Dad's are along because I  know they are there to look out and help if needed. The clinic was in Fontanel. Jayden went and stayed one night and got in two full days. She said she learned so much and everyone loved her horses. The clinic was mostly younger high school and college age kids. She was excited to catch and slick horn several times and even turned 3 or 4 head. She got her first dally, turn, and a heeler caught. 8/8/18 Jayden and I gave several horse lessons and trail rides lately . Last week she had a lesson with a teenage barrel racer, helping her troubleshoot some problems. Tuesday, Jayden rode the neighbor Lynne’s horse one morning and has been helping her learns some things. We had riding lessons with the S

The beginning of August we mowed, raked, and baled some more hay. This Mark was hurrying to get hay up again because of rain in the forecast. The bales were so heavy and a little damp. We were hopeful that it would be ok once it set for a bit. The guys worked so hard racking heavy 80/100 lb bales of hay. Tony did all the stacking and he was green by the end of the day and  am certain exhausted. They put up 5 hay racks. It ended up too wet and we had to sell most of it for a low price. Hay is hard to put up in Iowa with the humidity and rain.  Jake spends a lot of his time mowing. He also had drivers ed for most of June and into the first of July putting in hours of drive time. He has stepped up to any job that he is asked to do. He rakes hay and hauls round bales. Comparing Jake to Mark as a kid, Mark was working at a younger age and longer harder hours. Comparing Jake to kids of this generation, he is a very hard worker and does a lot for his age. It is a different time and kids don

I am starting to feel old, celebrating my 25th class reunion. It doesn't seem possible that it has been that long. Jessica and Dan came up with this years reunion plans. We met in Des Moines at a hotel where a few stayed. We had a few drinks and appetizers while visiting. 8 classmates attended:Dusty, Matt & Dan, Jessica, Jolene, Kyle, Abby and I.  Mark was with me, some of us had our spouses, some did not. Next we went on to an Iowa Cubs baseball game. Mindy and Sara joined us. It was a great night to be at a game, plenty warm, but not bad. It was fun to catch up with my classmates, and yet have something to watch and entertain us. Sure beats a potluck any day!! Class of 1993, we were a pretty close bunch, it felt like getting together with relatives. I think everyone that showed up for our reunion was in school with me from pre-school all the way through. Most of us were close friends through the years too, it comes with being in a small school.