The Muench Bunch

 Noah and Jayden have started the building their future home. The plan is for a barnominium type home. This style of home is like a machine shed style from the outside. It has the same floor plan as the lodge. It will be awesome and Jayden is so excited. She drew up a rough sketch of her plan and is amazed that they are building a home based off her notebook sketch. Noah and Jayden have been working alongside the plumber doing most of the work themselves. How meaningful it will be to have their sweat and hard work in the building of the home.  May God bless this home and their future together! Jayden shot her first turkey. It was the most beautiful turkey and amazing photo!

 1/13/23 Brock has been in the spotlight since his first NFL appearance. He is doing so great! He has become a household name in the NFL league. He went from an ISU Collge player to Mr. Irrelevant, to a overnight celebrity.  I have followed Brock from his freshmen year at ISU on Instagram. It is crazy to think that he has been involved in CS Salt ministry. We have really enjoyed watching him play and will continue as I am a big fan!  1/23/23 Brock Purdy continues his success with 7-0 wins since he has been put in the drivers seat as 49ers QB. I am so excited for this young man and the success he is having. I know that his roots are grounded in Christ and he is giving glory to God even if he isn't able to broadcast it on television. We live in such strange times that sharing your faith is somehow negative. All in all I am excited for him and proud to call him a former Cyclone. In church on Sunday our pastor gave a shout out and mentioned Brock as being a Salt leader. It says a lot a

 To celebrate Luke's birthday we aksed him what he would like to do and gave him sone suggestions. We ended up taking him to Des Moines along with Jake and cousin Rylie. We ate a great supper at Texas Raodhouse before checking into a hotel . We gave the boys their own room. THey went to the pool and hot tub, then went to see a movie. One thing that I have always loved about the cousins, they all still like and enjoy a good kids movie. Tonight's movie pick was Puss in Boots. While enjoying the hot tub, the boys got a little wild and went outside soaking wet in swim trunks and had a snowball fight. That was entertaining. The next morning they headed to Bass Pro shop while Mark and I went to a upscale men's clothing store in Clive. Mark loved every minute of the clothing store. He likes the personal attention and being made over. He likes that the store salesmen are all former clothing store owners, managers, and retail associates. They know clothing and they are good at what

 Little Everly turned 2 years old. She is the oldest of all the Muench grandbabies. She is busy, pretty, ornery, and I have yet to see her smile. She is cute as can be, but throws a hard serious look all the time. Libby held a party at her home with lots of family. She listed no presents necessary on her invitation and I think she may have gotten more. It was a short party with cake and ice cream and seeing family. It is so fun to watch this generation grow. 

 Our friend and Senator Jesse G invited us to Governor Reynold's inauguration ball. What an honor to be able to attend. I think very highly of Gov. Reynold's and all that she has done for Iowa. Mark and I made reservations to stay at a hotel downtown within the skywalk. We could walk right to the Iowa Event Center without stepping outside. It was cold and that sounded great to me. We both dressed for the occasion, I in my new dress and Mark in his suit. This was to be a black tie optional attire. Upon entering, we were given our seating assignment and I bumped into an acquaintance I knew from Hidden Acres. I had only met her once, but she knew me and had interviewed Jake when he worked out at Hidden Acres. Her husband was in his uniform and an Army General .  Everywhere we looked we saw evening gowns, tuxes, and suits,  a fancy occasion. I felt like I was at the Cinderella ball. I liked the dress I was wearing and felt very formal, however I was very casual and plain compared t

 The shop is always a hub of activity. The shop is full of equipment and this past year the crew has been assembling Salfords. There is  normal equipment maintenance, and all the agriculture, planting, tillage, spraying, harvesting, etc. I help Leah in the office and she is always busy multi-tasking.   A Slaford comes in in many parts, bits, and pieces starting with a frame. We have a great crew and can really get things done. At one point this winter, we had our John Deere sprayer in the shop completely unfolded. There was barely a foot on each end with the booms completely opened. That machine is huge and quite a sight!

 The first semester was a big adjustment for Jake. His last few weeks in December were rough. He was down about his classes, his classmates, his living quarters, his roommates, etc. It seemed that he was pretty miserable at college. After he realized he did much better in his classes than he thought and life was ok, and he had a nice Christmas break, he was feeling better. He has started back into a new semester with new classes and working at Peterbilt. He seems to really like his job. He has discovered which guys he really enjoys working with and which ones he does not. He always has stories to tell. Mark had to pick up parts one day and was able to snap a few photos for me. Proud of this kid.

 Somedays I only see Luke for about an hour a day. He leaves early in the mornings, sometimes I catch him as he is walking out the door between 7 and 7:30. He feeds the horses every morning before he heads to school. Some afternoons, he goes straight from school to the shop. On days when he heads home first, it's very brief to change his clothes or to switch vehicles and say hi and bye. He stays at the shop to do whatever projects are waiting. He typically has vehicles and semi's to wash. Sometimes he will tinker with his truck or give it a a clean. He has youth group on Wednesday evenings, sometimes he goes into the high school to watch the basketball games. He also runs errands, farm related on his permit. Some nights he gets in late and gets in the shower and I see him a few minutes before he goes to bed. Having a sit down meal that includes Luke is becoming more and more rare. I am not a fan of this empty nest business starting so early. I eat a lot of lunches alone and som

Carina and Wade had a traditional birthday party for Levi at their home in Williams, minus lunch. Carina has always served lunch and cake. We left chruch a little early and made our way through a Subway to get sanwiches before going to Williams. It was a quick party with a 2 hour window 1-3. We sang to Levi and he blew out his candles, opened his gifts, ate cake and then we were on the road. This year was a Hot Wheels party complete with the giant 6 balloon and decorations. Levi was funny, excited about opening all his gifts. This was the first year that he wasnt really excited about his Vans shoes he gets each year. He bounced around and was excited for everyone to be there and have cake. At one point he came up to his mom and said, "I'm bored and I don't know what to do." She told him he could get his ipad/tablet. He smiled and ran to the couch where he spent the rest of his time. This new generation would rather be on a tablet than anything. I got him to look up lo

 Mom and I went on a shopping day to look for dresses for the upcoming Governor's ball we were invited to. She is always up for a shopping outing. We also were on the lookout for a dress for Jayden's wedding. We stopped at the Valley West mall and so many of the stores have closed their doors, I really don't know what is keeping it open. The mall is two story and used to have Van Mauer, JC penny, and Younkers for big department stores, and now only JC Penny remained. I grabbed up a dozen dresses and went to trying on. Even mom did some trying on. I found a great dress for the Governor's ball. I even bought an extra outfit in black that I can save for a special occasion. The prices were too good to beat, super marked down. We called Jake who was finished with his classes in Ankeny for the day and wanted to join us for lunch. His truck was having steering issues and it sounded dangerous. We ate at Cheesecake factory, then followed Jake out of town. His truck would go over

 Pastor Mark had us think through our year of joys and sorrows. He had us go through our phone photos of the past year 2022 and look at photos of joys and sorrows. He reminded us that God is with us through it all and he will always be, his faithfulness is seen in our lives. He also read the serenity prayer. I love this prayer it is so good.  The funniest thing today I saw on television was the New Year's parade of a float  called "Vaccinate Our world!" I had to laugh out loud at the absurdity of it. I wish I could say it was a joke, but the parade float is real and is supposed to be taken seriously. I cannot believe we have turned our covid vaccine push into a parade float, still laughing.