The Muench Bunch

 Each year I tell Ali that if her kids would like to go to camp at Hidden Acres, we would pay for it. This year Bridget took interest and wanted to attend the horse camp. Not only did she choose horse camp, she choose the Wilderness horse camp. These campers have to rough it a little more, living in tents and spending more time out and away from camp. Her camp is shorter than most, only 3 nights. I was excited for her and prayed for her everyday. I sent her a couple notes and talked to her when she got back home. She really had a good time and told me she felt closer to Jesus. I pray that this is a door that will lead her into a path of learning and knowing more about Jesus and learning to walk with him.  Titus is growing and still a smiley guy. He is sick a lot, but doesn't get phased by it. 

 Sage was Jayden's heeler she got as a pup while living in Alva. She got her in the fall just before she got very sick with mono. Sage was there to keep her company when she was all alone and very sick. Sage was a neat dog, very chill and mellow for a heeler. She only got excited about playing fetch. She was Jayden's sidekick/shadow and the only dog I have ever allowed in my home. I made an exception when Jayden came back for Christmas break and Sage stayed in with us. It is sad that Jayden didn't have many years with her dog. She was looking forward to raising her with her new baby. Losing her dog was so sad and hard. She was a special one to Jayden and she will be remembered as one of the best.

 Jayden surprised me and Jake when we visited in May and announced her pregnancy. She facetimed her dad and Luke. Then when she came home in June she told the grandmas and cousins. She had a baby reveal in Texas and everyone was to guess what they thought she was having. Our family guessed too. Surprise, they are having a baby boy. I found a baby shark that I thought was very fitteng, since tha is Noah's nickname. O what fun it will be to have a new grandbaby! Exciting days are ahead. 

 Luke's hair got curly, real curly and we can't figure out why or how. He let it grow quite a bit and he started to look like Napoleon Dynamite, an actor from a silly movie. Luke put on some glasses, made the facial expression, and talked just like the movie character and makes me laugh so hard. He gets embarrassed, but he does it so good!! I saw the movie for the very fisrt time this year. It is so dumb and not my kind of humor, but Luke's impersonation is the best. Luke loves his doggo. We had to do some dog 101 training to get Ricky Bobby to listen. He is a smart dog and very obedient, however he has an aggressive bark and has even done some threatening nips near people, such as mail carriers, trash guys, etc. It’s not good and I am afraid it will become a problem. We contacted a dog trainer out of Des Moines to come and give Luke and Ricky lessons together. The idea is that Ricky will listen no matter what is distracting him and will always come when called. He has a sp

 On a few hot summer days, a small crew including Mark and the Peterson brothers, painted the roof edges of the gym/community center. Mark was rather irritated with the neighbors across the street. They are pretty typical of the residents in town. Since he has started this project, neighbors and locals living in town haven't showed much interest or curiosity in the progress being made. He watched as the neighbor living across the street loaded up their three dogs and couple kids to drive 50 yards to the baseball diamond to let their dogs out to take a doo. The family was in pajama pants smoking cigarettes on a weekday mid morning. That is the kind of thing that makes Mark crazy. There are steps being taken at the gym to prepare it as they get closer and closer to switching hands from the school to city to community. On another day, several were working inside the gym and the city council members were working on the baseball diamond dugouts, literally 50 feet from the gym door. They

 Most Father's days, if given the choice, Mark likes to do nothing but relax. I came up with an idea and he liked it, go camping at Brushy Creek and have a picnic lunch with our dads. Saturday we packed and loaded the trailer and were up to Brushy Creek by 11. The forecast was showing pop up rain and storms. I was concerned and hoped we wouldn't get any severe weather. Mark chose to stay at the North campground. We hadn't stayed there since our kids were really small. We set up camp and saddled horses first thing. We knew the early hours were our best chance to ride without rain. We took a lovely two hour ride on the all weather small rock covered trail. We had Tex and Roany and both did prefect. Roany has been sound and moving great this year. He is up in the high twenties...we think. We passed numerous mulberry trees loaded with fresh mulberries. I would take a handful and eat them. Mark had never eaten one before and kept questioning me until finally he tried them. It br

 Luke's Texas visit started when he flew back to Texas on June 14 with Jayden to spend the week. I was glad the two of them got to spend some quality time together. Jayden was definitely the big sister, keeping him entertained and being protective. She is really something. She prepared meals and took him out to eat. They did a lot in the time that he was there. They went fishing a couple times, experienced a storm, rented movies, played video games, went and picked up a horse, traded for a new horse, went hog hunting (Luke shot two), and joined the family's and friends for a big birthday outing. The birthday outing was a three night stay in a big house that included tubing down the river, go kart racing, and top golf. He sure had lots to do while he visited. His flight home got delayed three different times, but was only off by an hour. Jayden got him to his terminal and Luke knew how to go through security and ride the tram. He said security had a really long line. I wasn'

I have been working on a family history book and finding information. My mom gave me a box with my Grandpa Marvin Wahlert's military memorabilia. I found his bronze star and some other items. Here is a photo and information I wanted to photograph to save.  

 Jake finally got his Silver Bullet back up and running. He was feeling pretty good and happy to finally have the car in use. He was all smiles and wanted a photo shoot with the car. It was pretty short lived and had some problems. He spent many years working on it, had big goals for it. It sat for so long at Nate's. Jake ended up deciding not to put any more time or money into her and decided on selling the Cutlass Oldsmobile and moved on to the next thing.  It wasn't the most reliable. One evening in June, Jake's Grandpa W. came and hauled him off the side of the road and trailered his car home. That's quite a grandpa!

With the wedding in March, June was Jayden's first visit back to Iowa for the year. She flew in on Thursday and Karen and Orrie picked her up at the airport and ate supper. She greeted her grandparents with a little onesie and made her baby announcement. Of course, they were surprised and excited. Jayden got to our house and went straight to a horse project meeting with Luke and I. While watching Luke on Tex and all the kids, she was asked to give the pole bending demonstration. She was more than happy to and jumped on Tex. She is so good at teaching and giving instruction. She does it in a simple way that kids can understand and follow. I think she had fun and Luke was proud of his siter. The caliber of horse kids has changed so much from the years that Jayden was in 4H. There are a lot of green horses and green riders and the combination is scary. Then there are some parents that make you question why? Friday Jayden and I ran errands in Boone, then met in Ames for lunch with the