Climb Every Mountain...ok, maybe just one

A few days after the great flood, we went to Gatlinburg with some friends of ours. Dan, our good friend, was turning 30, so we went to a cabin in East Tennessee to celebrate. The main event was hiking in the Smokey Mountains. We hiked up Chimney Top, which was about a 3 hour hike. This was my first mountain hike! Since Garth was a boy scout, he'd done it several time before.

Here's our group heading up the trail.


Jan and Dan pose on the bridge.

Bridget, Chris and Baby Tennyson. Tennyson was only 8 weeks old during the trip! I was impressed that Chris hiked the whole way with her in tow.

Here's a better picture of her. Isn't she cute in her hat?

And here's another picture of Tennyson in the car. What a sweet girl!

Garth showing his serious thinker and rock star poses on the bridge.

The babbling brook below.

So pretty!

Once we got to the top of the mountain, we saw this cute little squirrel. It was really friendly!

Dan makes it to the top!

After some encouraging, we decide to climb up the rock face to make it to the top. We're glad we did! What a view!

Here's one of the pictures from the top. Those streaks in the photo is the road down at the bottom of the mountain.

A panoramic view from the top of the mountain. It was so peaceful up there!

Our group at the top (minus Bridget and Tennyson).

After taking in the view for a while, we had to climb back down.

It was a great trip. Thank you for having us, Jan and Dan!

Flood Report

It's been almost a month since my last post, so I thought it was high time I gave an update on how things are coming along with our flood recovery. You know me, so I've taken pictures along the way so you can see what we've been dealing with.


A couple of days after the flood, ServiceMaster (not my favorite, but that's another story) brought industrial fans to dry out the floors. I learned that concrete floors take FOR-EV-ER to dry, which is why we had SEVEN industrial fans in our house (along with a dehumidifier and air purifier) in the house for a week.

Here's a photo of one of my "little friends". Don't let this little thing fool you - it's awfully powerful. It felt like a wind tunnel in our house!

The Friday after the flood, ServiceMaster came to pull up the floors. I learned our hardwoods were glued down, which turned out to be a pain for them to remove. Glue = sticky mess. They had to come another day to use chemicals to get the glue up. Quite a process!


Here is the vinyl flooring coming up. This was exciting for us as we were glad to see it go! We've replaced it with porcelain tile, so I'm excited to show those pics once it is finished.

If you've been following me on Facebook or Twitter (yes, I signed up for Twitter and you can follow me at www.twitter.com/lauraclick), you know that I've mentioned the toilet in the living room. Isn't this a nice touch? It made a great coffee table for several days.

I have more pictures to share, but this is start. I promise there will be more to come. I know I've complained a bit about our house being torn up for more than a month, but I am very thankful that I even have a house at all. In the scheme of things, this is small stuff to do deal with compared to those without jobs, homes, etc. I'm thankful for all of our blessings - even this big mess!

ADDITION: I forgot to mention that Garth is on Twitter too! You can follow him at www.twitter.com/garthclick

Water, water everywhere...

On Tuesday night, I came home to Casa del Agua. That's right, our home had become a lake. It turns out that our neighbor had a pipe break and it flooded his place AND ours. It was lovely. Our entire first floor was soaked. Thankfully, Bailey was at daycare, so she discovered the disaster with me. I can only imagine what she would have done with water flooding in. Then again, she might have just slept through the whole thing!

I was supposed to be meeting my friend, Katie, to celebrate St. Patty's Day. Instead, she rushed over to help me survey the damage and start moving things. Garth's parents arrived with shop vac in tow and thanks to them, we got all of the water up. There was so much water that it filled the shop vac three times.

The water is gone, but there is some serious damage to our floors. Below are a few pictures of the damage, though it's a bit hard to see.

The water in our living room.

The water standing in our dining room.

Here's what's left of our area rug. It was so saturated and it took quite an effort for Katie and I to drag the rug out of the house.

For the best sense of the damage, here's a video I took. The adjuster came today and it looks like we will be able to get some new flooring out of the ordeal! I'll be sure to take pictures of the process. More to come!

Birthday Bash

On Saturday, we had a bunch of friends over to celebrate Garth's birthday. We had a bunch of food and I wanted to make a fantastic cake for Garth. I normally like baking and think my stuff turns out pretty good, but let's just say the cake was a bit of a disaster. I did a three-layer chocolate cake and wanted to decorate it really nicely. But, to no avail....


For some reason, the icing was so heavy, the cake started to totally fall apart. Garth claimed this look fine, but the longer the cake sat there, the more it started to fall apart. It was like a cake avalanche!

At this point, Garth started laughing and I so did I (though I felt like an utter failure in the cake making department). I certainly didn't want to let the cake go to waste. It still tasted great, after all. What to do? We got creative...

Let me introduce you to the "Birthday bowl!" I dumped all of the cake and icing into a huge mixing bowl and stirred it up. I attempted to decorate the top. Since it was a bit lumpy, it looks like a three-year-old wrote it, but oh well.

Here's Garth with his Birthday Bowl! Happy Birthday, Garth!

Our friends, Jan and Dan came for the festivities.

Here's me with my gal pals, Jan and Cara.

Blair and Jason joined the fun.

Here's the Springfield Lawyers Group - Rosemary, Garth and Jared.

And, last but not least, here's Garth and I. We had a great time (despite the cake disaster) and hope everyone else did too. Thanks for helping make Garth's birthday so fun!

Birthday Dinner

On Garth's birthday, we went to dinner at The Mad Platter for a six course Argentinian dinner. It was amazing! However, we've never had so much food in our entire lives!

Here's a self portrait of us before dinner.

Garth shows off the new business card holder I got him (among other things). I think Garth had a pretty good birthday!

Birthday Celebration with the Fam

Last weekend, Garth's parents had the family over to celebrate Garth and his grandmother's birthdays, which are just two days apart. Here are a few photos from the occasion.

Garth, Sarah and Grammy pose with the cake.

Sarah's not sure about helping blow out the candles.

Sarah shows off her Easter hat and bunny slippers.

I think she looks like Minnie Pearl with the tag hanging off the hat!

This one is my favorite - what a cutie!

Remembering my Grandfather

It's been nearly two months since our last post. I guess it's only fair to let you know where we've been all this time. The biggest event in the past two months was the passing of my Grandfather on January 23. He was admitted to the hospital on New Year's Eve because he had lost more than 20 pounds in December. We found out several days later that the rare cancer he had in his chin last summer and reappeared in his bones. The cancer had spread so much that they gave him a couple of weeks. I went to visit him one last time in early January and two weeks after my visit, he was gone.

It was hard to watch my grandfather slip away, and even harder to say goodbye. However, we all take comfort in knowing that he's no longer in pain and that he is with his Father in heaven. It's hard to aptly describe my Grandfather and what he meant to me. This doesn't come close to doing him justice, but below is the obituary I wrote for him.

Herbert George Kiehl
Herbert George Kiehl was many things – a loving husband, a devoted father and a caring friend. He was a grandfather to eight, and a mentor to many. He knew not a stranger. His contagious kindness touched the lives of everyone he met. Herbert filled the world with laughter.
More importantly, Herbert was a man of God. Even in his last moments on this earth, Herbert sang God’s praises and whispered the Lord’s Prayer. Now, he is at home with his Father, singing with the angels…forever watching down on those he left behind.
Herbert George Kiehl, 86, died on January 23, 2008, in his home of 55 years in rural Malta Bend, Mo. Born on December 11, 1922, he was the fourth child of Bernhardt Wilhelm Kiehl and Emilie Ida Caroline Hill. He was baptized on December 17, 1922, and was confirmed at Bethlehem Lutheran Church. He began his education at Bethlehem Lutheran School in Mt. Leonard, and then attended Malta Bend High School where he graduated in 1942.

On August 29, 1953, he married Pauline Marie Krone at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Westlake, Ohio. They had three daughters – Barbara, Janet and Marjorie – whom he affectionately called “his boys”.

A lifelong farmer, Herbert was a faithful steward of the land and enjoyed tending to God’s miracles each and every day. Herbert worked for A.H. Orr for many years and continued to farm that land the rest of his life. He enjoyed basketball, bowling, horseshoes and golf. He especially loved watching his grandchildren grow and sharing his love of the farm with them.

Throughout his life, Herbert was an active member of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Mt. Lenard where he taught Sunday School and served as an Elder and Trustee. He was also a member and past president of Farm Bureau, the Lutheran Layman’s League and Aid Association for Lutherans.

Survivors include his wife, Pauline; three daughters, Barbara Hoffman and husband, Dan, of Norfolk, Neb., Janet Vesser, and husband Bart of Gilliam, Mo., and Marjorie Tieman and husband, Greg of Blackburn, Mo.; eight grandchildren, Heather Novotny, Laura Click, Amber Vesely, Erin McKeage, Justin Novotony, Clayton Novotny, Jenna Fitzwater and Paula Tieman; and one great grandchild, Ethan Vesely.

Other survivors are sisters Esther Wolpers and Emma Langewisch, brother Martin Kiehl and several nieces and nephews. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his brother, Elmer Kiehl.