February 2020

February proved to be a lot of fun for us at the Heflin house. It was also a special year because we got to take advantage of that nice extra 24 hours to get some stuff done with it being leap year. Most people think of Valentine's Day when they think about February, but I better be on my game a week earlier than that because Jennifer's birthday is exactly a week before it!

We once again started our month off with a trip to the Home Depot kid's workshop. The kids built this picture framed yarn heart. They did everything with just minimal assistance. I am very proud of the little builders that they are turning into.

Just another great day to be a member of the big blue nation! 

We had a gift card eating a hole in our pocket, so we headed over to Malibu Jacks to play some laser tag and miniature golf. Golf was not going as planned because the kids were losing interest on about hole 5. We promised to stop and pick up a sweet treat if both kids finished the round without any more fighting or craziness. It actually turned out to be the best round of mini golf that I can remember the 4 of us playing.

For those of you who don't already know, Jennifer is exactly 21 days older than me. For those three weeks I usually joke with her a little more often about being an old lady. Well, she started a new hobby of knitting a scarf and I couldn't help but snap a picture of it. Now I have clear proof that she is an old lady!

Well, for Jennifer's birthday I had taken the day off from work. The Fayette County School System didn't get the memo that I wanted to take my girl out for a day date because they cancelled school for sicknesses and they closed to deep clean the schools. So, the kids got to tag along on the date with their mommy and I. Jennifer had been asking to go make some specialized dinner plates at the Mad Potter. I asked the kids what they wanted to paint on their plates. Landon wanted to do Pokemon and Brinley said she wanted to do a bunny unicorn or a bunnicorn as she called it. Instead of trying to paint one myself I spent time helping both kids with their plates. I think they all turned out great!

We then headed right down the shopping center to eat lunch at Malone's. Later that night we had double doosies from Great American Cookie Company just like Jennifer had requested. We also surprised mommy by taking her to the store and helping her pick out a new iPhone. She was very happy to upgrade from the 7 to the new 11!

On mommy's birthday we also made a quick pit stop by Jacobson Park to get in a few trips down the hill on our sleds. Jennifer was happy to sit in the warm car and snap a few pictures of me and the kids.

Of course after seeing everyone online acting a fool about their broom I had to give it a try. The kids thought it was awesome!

I bought tickets for the Her Knight Dance and I had no idea what we were getting our selves into since we had never been before. Well, it was an awesome experience. I think that Brinley enjoyed all the special attention that she got. It all started with her and Jennifer going out and picking her dress out together. Then Brinley getting her hair done by mommy. 

After eating Chick-fil-A and getting our pictures made we made our way out to the dance floor. Brinley really wasn't interested in dancing because they were playing a lot of older wedding dance type of songs, so I had to make it fun to keep her interested. It was songs like Twist and Shout, YMCA, and the Chicken Dance. Brinley even thought it was fun to dance on top of my shoes. The dance part was actually a huge struggle for me, but I couldn't let her know that. Two days before the Her Knight Dance I went to my first small group men's Bible study group that starts with a crossfit workout. I had appartently worked muscles that hadn't been used in years. I could barely move from sitting to standing which really made dancing with Brinley painful at times. Brinley however found her rhythm when they started playing music she knew like Old Town Road, Get Up, and I Got a Feeling - from the Trolls movie.

We even spotted a couple of the Chick-fil-A cows with some unique outfits on and had to get a picture with them. They gave Brinley a little tiara that she wasn't too excited about wearing but did for a couple of pictures. Every father and daughter got a gift bag for coming to the dance. The little girls got a little heart necklace and all the dads got a pair of socks with the Her Knight logo on them. It was a really special day with my little princess.

I had a patient at the clinic tell me about this little hole in the wall restaurant called Dad's Favorite. They talked so highly of it that I decided that I had to try it out. Jennifer and I were both off one day and we went while the kids were in school. They make their own cheeses and have created a sandwich for every single one of the different cheese options. Jennifer and I both got a sandwich and then shared so that we could both try a couple of them. The "Dad" was actually in the store that day and insisted that we try all of the different cheeses that he makes. He told us the whole back story of how he created each and every one of them. It is a really cool spot and would maybe go more often if it wasn't all the way on the other side of town. 

Happy Valentine's Day to the kids. They told me that they wanted donuts for breakfast so I got up early and went to pick up these conversation hearts from Krispy Kreme. The majority of the candy was sent to them by their grandparents and each kid even got a plaster mold and paint kit too. Landon got a dinosaur one and Brinley got a unicorn theme kit. This is my least favorite holiday for them all because I try to show these kids and their mother that I love them every day. If I have to be super extravagant just one day a year then what does that actually prove?

Jennifer and I on our Valentine's night dinner at Qdoba! Man I am so lucky that she doesn't need all the crazy of this world. The kids were with us and I couldn't have been happier. I sent Jennifer this little meme card, but she wasn't all that impressed.

The day after Valentine's it was back to work at Rupp for the UK game against Ole Miss. They interviewed Nick from Survivor on the big screen so I made a point to get down and try to meet him. Nick recently won the season that he was on and now he is starting in the winners at war season. He was very nice and I wished him the best of luck and told him I was proud that he represented Kentucky well.

The kids had been obsessed with their electronic devices so much recently that for one whole weekend I took them all away and we had to find ways to keep us entertained without electricity. I had this adult coloring book with Christmas pictures that seemed like a good idea. Brinley quit and didn't finish her picture. I did the reindeer, Landon did the Christmas tree, and Jennifer did the fireplace. Even though Brinley didn't finish her picture she really enjoyed everyone else's so much that she hung them up in her room.

I drug Jennifer and the kids out to watch the women's basketball team play against Mississippi State who at the time was ranked 6th in the country. It was an awesome game. The kids enjoyed their snacks, met the wildcat, and I even caught two shirts when the cheerleaders were throwing them out to the crowd. Kentucky won the game and it wasn't even close!

For Christmas I received a bow tie from my father. After some you tube videos I finally got it down pat. I had to test it out in the real world so I wore it to a work dinner at Jeff Ruby's. Not sure that I will be wearing it all the time, but if people know me (usually wear shorts and t-shirt) then it really throws them off.

We had a person that contacted our clinic and asked if they could donate tickets to some of our children. Well, of course they could! One of the little patients came to an earlier game in the season and I had asked the head of the Committee of 101 if there was anything that we could do for them. He said that we could take them out to center court and get a picture on the court. I even had showed them where the players exited the building so that they could get a picture with them. Well, then we had another patient show up for a game. After the game I securde him a spot right up on the court where he listened to Coach Calipari's post game radio show. He got his ball signed by coach and everything was good. Then everything in the universe started falling into place for an amazing epic adventure. John Wall who had been at the game as a fan came back out and snapped a few pictures with his family. We screamed for him to come meet my friend. We then ran around the basement of Rupp Arena to meet John Wall and we caught him right before he got on the elevator. Then like clock work the players started filing right out. We met Tyrese Maxey, Ashton Hagans and then headed back out to the floor where we met Nick Richards and Immanuel Quickly. It truly was an awesome experience and when I got home Jennifer asked me why I didn't get a picture with John Wall and I told her because at the moment it wasn't about me, it was just about making my patient's day just a little bit better. I had never met John Wall before this interaction. This was actually my favorite day ever of being a blue coat because of the smile that I got to see on this young man's face that day. 

The football team contacted me and told me that they had something for me over at the practice facility. I had no idea what it could possibly be but I was completely shocked when I got there and they had a framed picture of some of the team with Belk Bowl Champs. They also had a full size personalized football with the Belk Bowl info from the game on it. I couldn't have lucked into a better little gig with the football team. They also told me that my bowl ring would be in around May. They also asked if I would be interested in coming back to drive recruits again next year and of course I said yes!  

I had never been to a Men's Conference before but our church was having one. I had no idea what I was getting into, but it was an amazing two days spent in worship and fellowship with other men in the community. The four guest speakers they had did an amazing job. The first that spoke was my favorite because he spoke with so much passion during his message. They had live wrestling in the lobby, an impossible basketball shot, 3 pound turkey legs, Chick-fil-A chicken sandwiches, crowd games and so much more in addition to the 4 different messages that we heard. I was even able to meet Shannon the Dude, who is the producer of KSR. I hope that Southland does it again next year and I am for sure going again and have a lot of friends that I think would have enjoyed it as well! 

One Saturday afternoon the kids and I decided to build Legos. We have been obsessed with the new show Lego Masters so we were trying to see what we could create. Landon and I both built cars. Mine was the big one with all the lego heads attached to it because my little characters were headhunters. We even raced them down the ramp that you can see behind them in the picture. I also helped Brinley build a rainbow colored house. Brinley and Landon also played a game of basketball where Landon was the basketball!

I was honored at the hospital for hitting a milestone. As of February 15th, I had been with UK Healthcare for 10 years. I have worked in 4 different areas over that time period, but I currently reside in the DanceBlue Clinic. They had a little reception and gave me a book with nice comments all my co-workers had left for me. 

The kids had another breakfast with dad at the school. They had donuts and Courtney Love from the UK Football team came to talk to us. They had the raffle and I asked Brinley before hand if she would let Landon have both tickets since he has never won before and Brinley has won almost every time we have gone. I told her that if her ticket won then I would get her something at the store. Well, of course her ticket won but she let Landon go up and pick out the prize. Apparently it was this pen or a little frisbee. I thought he might give it to me and then I would get him a prize at the store that he actually would like, but the little guy never even mentioned giving it to his old man. That is until he came home from school with it a few days later saying it was broken and that he wanted a new prize! Not today buddy! You missed your opportunity. Jennifer's recommendation is that we just tell them we don't want raffle tickets the next time that we go to one of these dad's breakfast.

An older gentleman that volunteers in our clinic told me recently about a tradition that he does every year on his birthday. He runs half his age in miles to celebrate his birthday. I of course am always up for a new challenge so I told Jennifer my plans to run 17 and a half miles on my birthday. She told me that it was a bad idea and that she didn't think I should do it. Well, the moment that man told me about it I knew that it was going to happen. After thinking through the logistics of it all I knew that my birthday was going to be jam packed with activities so I chose to use my extra day for the year, leap day, to accomplish this feat. Do to it being cold outside and I hadn't trained at all for this I decided that running on the treadmill was going to be the best option. I would have plenty of snacks, water, and a place for bathroom breaks too. I woke up at 5:30 and got on to try and crank out these miles. It started off really good for the first nine miles, but then I started taking quite a few walk breaks. I made it through the second half of the run, but I was struggling. I finished in three hours and nine minutes for an average mile time of 10:48. It is something that I might add to my birthday tradition every year as well! The picture of my watch was taken at the end of the day and it showed all the activity that I had done. I burned 3,249 calories, exercised for 218 minutes, and was standing at least 16 hours of the day.

February was a great month. It was extremely busy for us, but isn't every month busy for us! We celebrated Jennifer, Valentine's, watched UK sports, went dancing, and even celebrated a milestone at UK healthcare. As much fun as the month of February is I am always more excited to begin March! March is my absolute favorite month of the year for many different reasons. Thanks for reading and God bless!