The Muench Bunch

 Lilac was renamed to "Little Monster" after about a month. She has fit that name and sometimes I may call her fluffy butt. She is a cat like no other. She has the sweetest meow but is viscous. She doesn't really enjoy being petted, about three pats, then she is all bute and threats. She can snarl and growl if you try to keep petting her. She is the fluffiest softest cat I have ever seen. It makes her look huge when she is really a petite sized cat. Her fur is gorgeous, so soft and perfect. How on earth she isnt a matted mess of clumped fur, I wouldn't know. I took Luke to Ogden for Trick or Treat. He was black from head to toe. It was all his idea and I thought it was cool. I was thinking he would be some kind of Ninja. When he was all dressed and we were ready to go out, I kind of thought, maybe this isnt such a good idea. This could be percieved wrong. There are so many racial issues going on. If I was in the wrong neighborhood things could go very bad. Luke was

During harvest, if you want to see your husband, you must go to the field. I try to ride with Mark when he is in the combine, which doesn't happen very often. Otherwise I will ride in the semi, which isnt as enjoyable. Its a rough ride, once we are at the grain leg, Mark is out opening hoppers and measuring moisture. There isn't as much time to visit. He spends most of his time running semis back and forth to the fields. Occasionally he fills in with the grain cart. I bring the meals and sit a few rounds. That is a a farm wives date night . Luke was in the field every chance he could get. He rode in the combine with Mike or Grandpa Po, the grain leg with Linde, the semi with Tony or Dad. He was all about farming this harvest. He jumped into the driver's seat in the combine and took over. He would drive while Grandpa Po rode in the buddy seat. He could drive, open and close the auger and dump into the grain cart. He loved every minute of it! He helped open the hoppers for

I haven't turned on the news in a couple weeks, I just turn to the weather channel, see whats coming and then turn on my worship music. In the car I listen to my CD's and not the radio. Too many political campaigns and too much negativity in the news. Hearing all of that over and over really gets in your mind. They are trying to brain wash you with negativity, turn you into a hater. Some of the  ads have become explicit and inappropriate detailing sexual accusations against a politician. It's advertising and adult bullying. There is such a problem with bullying and hate among kids these days and we wonder why. There was yet another church shooting. A Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh, 11 were killed while worshiping in a hate crime. Such sad news and it keeps happening. I read about a father who was carrying his own weapon.  A masked gunmen started shooting in a McDonalds and the father with his two sons, shot the man and saved many who would have been shot otherwise. Of cou

We coordinated Blake and Ali's engagement photos with our family photos. It was a very windy day, so it made for a challenge and we had to pose wherever we could find a good wind break. Last minute I thought it would make a great backdrop to have Jake's Farmall M. The tractor really added and made some fun photos. I was happy with all the photos and Ali was so excited. There are so many pictures, over 100. I had to pick just a few to share. While Ali and Blake had their photos taken at Don Williams, the kids played at our house. Bridget and I made caramel apples and Andrew raked leaves in the yard with Luke until it was dark. I made everyone lasagna for dinner.

The guys had been going strong in the field for over a week solid. Mark needed Jake on Friday as he was short on help. Mike's mom passed away so he was with family. Jake worked a solid 11 hours in the field running the grain cart. Mark was pretty proud and Jake was feeling pretty good and very tired. When he got in that night, he had just a few hours and then he was off for his weekend youth group retreat. His group started the evening Friday at Hidden Acres at 11PM and went until Sunday noon. Jake always looks forward to it and he had a great time. He bonds with his guys. He stayed in the horse bunk houses with his group. He said it was hot and stinky. They had games outside in the dark one evening with a scary scarecrow chasing them. Saturday night they had a dance with a "Country Roads" theme. The whole theme really bothered Jake. He did not appreciate being a country kid and feeling mocked. In the end, it was another fun time with his friends learning and spending tim

JMO (Just My Opinion...Just because a trending style is"in" certainly does not mean it should be worn by everyone. Because it is trending doesn't necessarily mean it is flattering or attractive. Whoever finds purple, blue, or green hair to be flattering must have been in a circus. Skinny jeans are the latest fad and something I just have a hard time with. They are skin tight jeans that are tight all the way to your ankle. They have been in for at least 5 years are more. It took me at least 3 years before I dare put on a pair. At first I did not like the way they looked on myself, dont like how they hug my butt and didn't feel comfortable at all in them. I would still much rather wear my loose fitting jeans. I slowly started to wear them trying to not be the outdated out of fashion mom. I am tall and not overweight, so I can pull them off. Now, since these jeans are  the in thing, all women are wearing them, big and small, short and round. Not only the jeans, but also

It was a busy weekend for Jayden. The ISU rodeo club hosted their annual Cyclone Stampede Rodeo. It brought me back to my years of helping host the big rodeo. Only ours was an outdoor rodeo in not so great facilities and always so cold. I can recall the club members working for a couple weeks painting, cleaning, advertising, getting sponsors, and fixing everything up for the big weekend.  This years ISU rodeo was held in the Hanson center indoor arena. Jayden helped in the food stand. All they had were a dozen boxes of pizzas sold by the slice. There is so much potential for what that club could be doing with some supervision. All the little details are missed because it is student run without an advisor. They have two new coaches that like to show their authority, but lack leadership and knowledge. Jayden also hauled the trailer Friday and Saturday with her horses, bringing along Joker to carry flags. She also set up barrels and of course competed. She ran on Friday morning slack with

On Friday, Mark was pretty stressed trying to harvest. He switched from corn back to beans because things were finally drying out enough to get back into the beans. They are more fragile than corn, and it is crucial to get them harvested as quickly as possible. Mark knew that Tony was leaving early and would be gone all day Saturday. He had another family friend, Mick lined up to come out and help. He ended up not being able to come until Saturday. Out of the blue, Mike had to leave because his mom went to the hospital. That left Mark in the grain cart and his dad in the combine. Karen brought out suppers as I was bringing Jake to the field. Jake had trained for a couple hours before, but never gone on his own. Mark sat with him for one round and I sat in with him for one round. Then, trouble with the combine. The head had gotten too low and pushed some dirt into the head and things came to a halt. This was around 5:00 and they never got going again, despite Mark's efforts over a

Jake had been looking for a 4 wheeler and made several phone calls and went to see a couple. They had many problems that you wouldn't know until you take them for a ride. Mark went with Jake each time to inspect and make sure they were all that they seemed. Most of them were not. Jake didn't want anything new right out of a store. He wanted old school, something from the nineties. He came across the 4 wheeler he wanted. It was a yellow Honda that he soon gave the name Rhonda the Honda. It isn't like the 4 wheelers we have at home, it has speed and it is made for racing. I have to say it makes me very nervous and I dont like seeing Jake speed racing around the yard and trying to pop wheelies and jump ditches. My worry levels are going up again. Why do we give things that cause us extra worry? When Jake brought his 4 wheeler home, he was a little concerned about some of the stickers on his 4 wheeler. He made his own stickers to cover them up. One said a moderately bad word

If its not one thing, its another. Jayden has gone through so much in the past couple years trying to figure out her joint pain and stomach issues. Last February while on vacation, her tooth that had a root canal and crown, had to have yet another toot canal/crown. Now, that tooth is bothering her once again. The poor kid, she is in the middle of mid-terms, lots of class work, presentations, and this is the big ISU rodeo weekend,her team hosts. She is involved in the weekend in many ways, working in the concession stand, carrying a flag at three performances, and competing. Little by little day after day, her tooth is feeling a bit worse. She is feeling the pain. On Tuesday she was able to get in to DR. Gimer in Iowa Falls. He is a specialist that I have seen and my parents have been to many times. Jayden had to give her class presentation for Ag Sales in the morning, then I picked her up and drove her to Iowa Falls. Grandma came and sat with me and went on a walk while I waited. It wa

I am a big supporter of Wings of Refuge. My friend Joy and her husband Aaron started the ministry shortly after returning from the Jamaica mission trip. Joy felt led to start a ministry for women who have been rescued out of sex trafficking. She is amazing and I have enjoyed knowing her and reading her posts. She is such a God fearing, people loving person. She puts herself out there and is so well spoken. She wears her heart on her sleeve and gives God all the glory. I admire her so much. I invited Carina to go with me to a Wings of Refuge event for a few reasons. 1 it was close to her home, 2) I wanted her to hear from Joy, her story, and to learn more about Wings of Refuge in hopes that she will want to help too and can share the information. 3) I wanted to spend some time with Carina, just us two girls, something that never happens. Waiting in line to check in with a line of other ladies, Joy spotted me and gave me a hug. She was so amazed I had traveled so far to the event. It

October 14 Snow.....I cannot recall getting snow this early in October. The temps were cold and on our drive home from church we saw the flurries. I figured we would just see a few specks, but it still seemed much too early for snow! As the day went on, the flakes came down much larger and then they started to stick. By evening almost everything was white and it was on the ground the next morning. We were just getting things dry enough to get back in the field. Snow sure isn't going to help with fall harvest. I hope this isn't a sign for a long winter ahead. On Tuesday the combine was a rolling. Mark made the switch to corn even though we had not yet finished beans. With Po running the combine, they hit a soft spot. He stopped and tried to back up and sunk the front tires. With some spinning and trying to get it out, it just buried it deeper. Mark tried to pull it out, but in the end he had to hire a tile crew to come with two backhoes to dig it out.  The boys and I watched fr

We have gotten rain, rain, and more rain. This rain is at a bad time of the year. The farmers have been anxious to get in the field. They have just started rolling and then rain. It has been a week since Mark has been in the field. It is October 12th and he has gotten half his beans out and hasnt started on corn. There are some areas in Iowa that haven't been dry enough to even gotten in yet. As the days go by and it gets later, they get more nervous. Mark knows there is nothing he can do about it and has used his time and energy elsewhere. He went to work on the arena putting in cattle alley and chute for roping. With Tony's help, he welded posts and fence and made a nice heavy duty roping cattle return. The arena is all set up for roping with live cattle now. During the week, we took a day with the boys to visit the Historical Center in Des Moines. On Saturday my college roommate Teng V. was in town. Our family, minus Jayden, met her for brunch at the Cafe in Ames. Jayden