December 2021

We were able to start the month of December out with a family trip to see the Wildcats play. There were not many people at the game so we snuck down and all found seats in the lower arena. 

On December 3rd Jennifer worked her final shift for UK Healthcare. She took a new job where she will be working from home. I am very thankful for this opportunity so that she will be able to be there if the kids need anything and we won't have to worry about after school childcare. I will miss being able to walk down the hallway to see her, but I am so happy to have her home every night and weekend. The kids picked her out some treats for when she got off work, flowers and Funyuns. 

The bridge going across Man'O'War finally opened and it was nice outside so the kids and I took a bike ride to go see it. 

Landon had his best offensive performance of his life when he scored 3 goals. He is normally more of a defensive minded soccer player, but on this night he showed he can play both ends of the field. 

The kids went to see Santa at Cabela's. We have gone to see Santa at this location for the past couple of years because you can bring a pet. This year Brinley brought Salt since Pepper came last year. 

Gingerbread house building.

Jennifer was doing some winter cleaning and she packed up a load to go donate to our church. 

Our elf, Nick Kringle, made his way back from the North Pole to check on the kids for Santa. He is always up to silly things and he even brought his friend Hedwig the owl. 

Matching pajamas for Christmas photos and the kids personalized ornaments. Landon got a soccer player and Brinley got a softball player.

We went out to watch the new Ghostbuster's movie. I wish I had been thinking about it and made the kids wear their old Halloween costumes. We also got some specialty Krispy Kreme donuts. 

We stopped to see Grandma and Grandpa on the way to Jennifer's family Christmas party. We even brought Nick Kringle along with us.

Jennifer's family all got together for a Christmas party. We all met at Sarah's house because she had the twins who were just under a month old.

Granddaddy Clayton and Memom, with their daughter, 3 granddaughters, and 7 grandchildren.

Our work Christmas party/ornament exchange was a blast. We were so happy to be back in person and able to spend time with everyone outside of work. It had been a very difficult and long past two years. 

For Christmas I decided to get something that would help be become a better version of myself. I got myself a Peloton. Landon has also started to get interested in riding too. 

I had told Landon that I would take him to the UK/Louisville game. Well, the only downfall is that Louisville got COVID and had to cancel. Kentucky instead, picked up a game with Western Kentucky. When they did that I asked my dad (WKU alumni) if he wanted to go to the game. He declined so it was Landon's game to attend again. It turned out to be an awesome night. We met Big Blue Santa, got a picture with Jeff Sheppard and his son Reed (UK commit), and I even talked our way onto the court to get a picture with the Oscar rebound tracker. Oscar Tshiebwe broke the all time Rupp Arena single game rebound record.

We also stuck around until the players came back out and Landon was so pumped to get his picture taken with Oscar.

One of my patients was ringing the bell to finish his chemotherapy treatment. Only problem was that the kids had dentist appointments that I had to take them to because Jennifer was still on orientation. We quickly finished up at the dentist and ran over to my clinic so that I could see him ring the bell. He had made a special shirt to commemorate his journey. I was honored to be one of the crew members.

Another nice December weather day called for some target practice. Just trying to make the kids just a little country, even though they are a couple of city kids. 

Brinley wanted to help me make the Christmas candies. We made some Mamaw candies, turtles, and chocolate covered marshmallows. 

It was so nice to be able to attend Christmas Eve candlelight service in person this year. It is always a beautiful service and it is always nice to be in the house of God. 

We made and decorated some Christmas cookies. I think we all did a great job. The picture on the left is all of our favorite cookies that we made. Landon did the bell (I did the writing), I made the Oscar Tshiebwe gingerbread man, Brinley made the Luna Lovegood, and Jennifer made the snowman. 

The kids must have been good this year because they both got pretty awesome gifts from Santa. Brinley got an American Girl Doll ice cream truck. Landon got a PS5. 

Their sign says: We are going to Harry Potter World for a .... WHOLE YEAR!! Jennifer and I really love these kiddos a lot and we had been planning on taking them to Harry Potter World for a year or so, but you know a pandemic happened and plans changed because we weren't really traveling anywhere. When we were looking into tickets to visit Universal Studios I found that the price for a couple days was almost $300 and a season pass was just over a hundred more so it only made since to get the season passes. Just a couple of days after Christmas we would be using our passes for the first time. 

Christmas day was unusually warm so the kids and I planted some bulbs that Grandpa had given us. We also took a family bike ride. The girls gave the bike ride a thumbs down, but Landon and I enjoyed it. Landon and I actually got about 5.5 miles in. We saw lots of people out walking and it just felt really weird. I said Merry Christmas to all of them. I guess that is maybe what it is like in warmer climates. Just not a usual Kentucky Christmas. 

A couple of years ago Taylor gave this puzzle to us. So for the last 3 years we have worked this puzzle together at Christmas. Of course I try to make everything into a game. We time ourselves to see how fast we can get it done. This year we finished in 34 minutes and a hair from 18 seconds. Not too bad for a 300 piece puzzle. I will be interested to see when we get a time that we can't improve on the following year. I have even started writing our times on the inside box so we can keep track.

The kids wanted to sleep right next to the tree one night. How precious are these two. 

My work had a weekful of holiday celebrations. We had ugly sweater day, jingle bell day, and pajama day. I love all my co-workers who make work as much fun as possible. 

I asked the kids multiple times if they wanted to go see Christmas lights and they kept telling me no. We usually go see the lights at the Horse Park. So instead I took them to a couple of the decorated places in town. This house is just so beautiful and they have so many people come by to look at it that they sometimes have police directing traffic. 

I have no real ties to Christmas foods so I asked Jennifer and the kids what they wanted. Brinley has talked about how much she had loved crab legs so I got a couple pounds to go with our steaks. Then I threw in a couple of my favorite sides, sweet potato and corn pudding. Well, we quickly discovered that Brinley did not like crab legs. I guess that was a win for Jennifer because she got a lot more crabs legs. 

This was the first year that all of us weren't together on the actual day of Christmas. McKinley had to work at the hospital in Nashville on Christmas, but Andrea didn't want to be six hours away from her home when she was so far along in her pregnancy. We decided that the best solution was to celebrate together a few days later on December 27th in Lexington. Grandma and Grandpa went up to help Andrea with all of the Christmas festivities in Ohio. This will actually be our last Christmas together before all of us kids are married with McKinley and Taylor tying the knot next June.

Brinley, Landon, and Olivia love playing together. It doesn't matter what my kids do Olivia wants to be there and do it too. 

The cousin crew will be expanding by one in the upcoming year. This will be the last Christmas with just the three!

After everyone left to go back home we all jumped in the car and headed south to Florida. We took advantage of Jennifer's new ability to work from "home". We had two reasons for going to Florida. First to visit Harry Potter World for Jennifer and the kids. Secondly for me to attend UK's bowl game which just so happened to be in Orlando too!

We have heard so many people talk about Bucee's that we had to stop on our way to Florida. Jennifer and the kids were not impressed and we actually left empty handed. I at least talked Landon into a picture with the Bucee statue. 

The next day we got to Universal around noon. Jennifer dropped me and the kids off at the park and she went to check into the hotel. The kids and I started exploring the park and riding as many rides as we could. We only had one rule: DON'T GO TO HARRY POTTER WORLD WITHOUT MOMMY. Jennifer didn't make that rule, but I wanted her to see the kids reactions when they saw it all for the "first time". They had actually been before but were 1 and 2 at the time so they don't remember it at all. They were both really big fans of the ET ride. 

Once Jennifer got off work she headed over to the park and we went straight to Diagon Alley. The kids went to the wand shop and Brinley was picked to have the wand choose her. Even though it picked her she decided on a different wand. She of course wanted Luna Lovegood's wand. Landon also picked out a wand and decided to get Voldemort's wand. I was really confused by the decision, but we got it for him anyway. 

The next day was the same. The kids and I went to the park and Jennifer stayed in the hotel to work. The kids and I rode on the Hogwarts Express to get to Hogwarts. They enjoyed running through the wall at platform 9 3/4. 

Jennifer got one of her favorite treats when she got to the park after work, a hot Butterbeer. The kids dialed MAGIC in the telephone booth to hear a secret message. The kids rode Revenge of the Mummy three times in a row at one point in the day. They also met Megatron and he tried to talk them into joining the decepticons. The parks were very crowded so we got creative so that we didn't have to wait in over hour long lines. After riding something the first time and the kids liked it we would then go through the single rider line. Your party would be split up but it cut down the wait time by a ton. Sometimes I wouldn't even ride I would just wait for them at the exit. 

Landon gives the Hippogriff ride a thumbs up. This was his first time riding it. The last time we came to the park Brinley was barely old enough to ride it. Our family favorite ride was hands down Hagrid's Motorbike. 

More pictures of us on some rides and with the castle. Jennifer and the kids even met a baby velociraptor. Brinley was tall
enough for a newer thrill ride, Velocicoaster. I told her that we needed to ride it together at least once. She was terrified, but turns out that she loved it. That only made things that much worse for Landon because he was about an inch too short. He cried a couple of different times, especially when Brinley talked about her new favorite ride!

We ended 2021 watching a light and fireworks show at Universal Studios before heading to the hotel to watch the ball drop. We would have stayed out and rode rides until midnight, but the park closed at 10.

From our hotel we could see the midnight fireworks from Disney. We watched them from the window while watching the ball drop on TV. 

The year 2021 was a heck of a year. We made the best of life and made tons of memories. I can't wait to see what 2022 has in store for us! Thanks for reading and God bless!

November 2021

Brinley's softball team had their final Halloween themed tournament cancelled due to weather. They never got to wear their Halloween costumes. So, instead they had a party to celebrate their season. 

We even played a kids verses parent game. Coach Trey even came up with the idea of having all the girls take batting practice with fruits and vegetables. Every girl got to take their pick of produce. I filmed all the girls hitting their food in slow motion. Briley hit a lime. You can see in the picture on the left what it looked like upon impact.

Olivia came down for a visit and was excited to pick up the kids from school and play out on the trampoline.

 The girls got their first win ever in the tournament and came up just short of winning the whole thing in the championship game.

Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Andrea and Olivia all came to see Brinley play in her final fall softball tournament. 

Landon's core group of soccer buddies got together for another season of indoor soccer. The scorpions were a force once again. Landon loves playing defense, but not necessarily goalie. He has gotten better every season and has really developed into a good player. Excited to see him develop his skills and game even more. 

With Brinley's softball season over a couple of the girls decided to get together and run once a week for fun and to get some team building exercise in. Landon ran with the girls too and a couple of them had a goal to try and beat him. Unfortunately for them, Landon never plans on losing anything. I was so proud of Brinley for pushing herself to get better in the off season.

Although not the reason we wanted to be making a trip back home but it was so nice to see all of my cousins and their kids. My Aunt Mary Ruth had been such a blessing in my life and always a joy to be around. She will be extremely missed, but I am glad she is no longer in pain here and instead rejoicing in heaven.

Not the circumstances we wanted to get everyone back together, but I really enjoyed getting to see all of my cousins. This group of people were a huge part of my childhood. I am so grateful to have lived close to them and be a part of their lives.

Landon had another great game at indoor soccer (futsol). The team was finally given their medals for last season since the final game got cancelled due to weather. I am very proud of the team player he is becoming. He is a heck of a defender.

The kids school cross country team had a celebration at Urban Ninja. They had a blast running around and playing with their friends. I am so glad that we signed the kids up for this group. It was a lot of fun running with them and hope to get the team back together again next season. 

The kids finally got their first COVID vaccine! To celebrate the kids wanted a treat from Dairy Queen. They were so excited to being one step closer to getting rid of the mask. 

I was very thankful to be able to get my third COVID vaccine dose. I again had no side effects. Glad that I could do my part to help us get through this horrible pandemic.

Jennifer and I had a day off together so we headed to one of our favorite spots, the Red River Gorge. We had other things to do for the day so we just hiked up to Natural Bridge. I always seem to be a week behind on trying to see the all the leaves with all the different colors. I will try again next year. 

I am so happy to call this beautiful lady my wife. 

We for sure had to get some pizza at Miguel's before heading back home to Lexington. I have persuaded this beautiful lady into liking my own pizza concoction of BBQ sauce, bacon, chorizo, and sweet potato pizza. It is delicious!

I was also very happy to be able to donate blood. This donation was a part of Big Blue Crush where we have a competition against Tennessee as to who can have more blood donations. I am always happy to try and beat the Vols at anything. More importantly I want to try and help people any way I can. 

Brinley said she was interested in playing the violin at school. So, we headed downtown to pick one out. We just rented one because apparently violins can get pretty costly. We will see if this is something that she likes to do. 

Brinley and I had a nice father daughter date night to watch the Wildcats play. Brinley doesn't enjoy the game as much as I do, but she enjoys some time with her old man so I will continue to take her with me. 

We began our date night with some Goodfellas and ended it with ice cream on the way home from RUPP.

Jennifer and the kids came to see the Wildcats play football in their final home game of the season. It was a complete beat down of New Mexico State. The kids got so many treats to eat throughout the game. I have no idea how they ate that much food!

While we were at the game I saw that I also had some friends in Kroger Field. We went to find them because we hadn't seen them since the pandemic started. It was so good to catch up and see their entire family. They sure have grown up.

I took the kids through the training facility and showed them the trophy that they helped cheer the CATS to victory at the Belk Bowl almost 2 years ago. 

The whole golf cart crew together for the last home game. These are some awesome guys and it has been fun working with them the past two years. We also ran into Lynn Bowden as he was leaving and I had to tell him thanks for winning me this bowl ring from 2 years ago. I also got to see Luke Fortner, an offensive lineman, who is just an awesome guy. Before COVID he came to the hospital every Tuesday to see patients. I just wanted to tell him thanks too for all that he did for my patients. 

The kids were given off the entire week of Thanksgiving so we decided to head down to Nashville to visit with Uncle McKinley and Taylor. McKinley took us out to a local hiking spot and the kids had a lot of fun hiking off the trails around the little pond. 

Jennifer decided to walk to the car while McKinley and I took the kids on the long way around the pond. She spotted some friends on the way back. She got a pretty awesome picture of the deer.

Landon thinks of Uncle McKinley's house as a big playground. Just look at that wall of board games. Landon is always excited to play some new games when we get together. 

Uncle McKinley also took us out to a milkshake bar. The girls got a s'mores, Landon and I shared a strawberry candy, and McKinley got a salted caramel chocolate one. They were good, but they were overpriced for the actual shake. You were paying for the flair and decoration.

We stopped by to show the kids the Parthenon replica that is in downtown Nashville. We had some time to just play so we threw football out on the lawn. They we headed back to Uncle McKinley's house. I decided to help clean up the front yard leaves. Then I realized that the kids had never in their life jumped in a pile of leaves. We have small trees in our neighborhood and only one in our yard. So not a lot of leaves to make a pile with at home. The kids loved it!

More pictures of us playing at the Parthenon. Jennifer said it was too cold and she sat in the car and watched us. We also saw this painted wall that said "It's gonna be O.K.".

Brinley spent a majority of the time at Uncle McKinley's trying to get Lexi to play with her. Lexi is McKinley and Taylor's cat and she might be terrified of Brinley. 

Taylor had already put out all of there Christmas decorations including there elf. Taylor didn't apparently remember the rules of the elves and had touched Elfie. Elfie had to leave a note to make sure that nobody did it again.

McKinley and Taylor weren't going to be able to come to Lexington so we celebrated Thanksgiving a little early. Grandma and Grandpa came down for the party too. We played games and then went totally off the wall with the food. Everyone got to pick something they loved and that's what we had. Panda Express, Giordano's pizza, and an Outback bloomin' onion all made the Thanksgiving menu. 

Whenever we get together it is a given that we are going to play some games. This time was no different. McKinley introduced us to a few new ones and we also played some of our favorites too. 

On the way home from Nashville we stopped by Aunt Sarah and Uncle Nick's house to see the kid's newest cousins, Millie and Myles. Brinley was super excited to see the babies. Landon was just happy to play video games with Elam. 

We started out Thanksgiving with our Grassroots friends. We played in the Turkey Bowl. I might be getting too old because I came away with a couple new injuries. Then we had to get home to start cooking our Thanksgiving meal. Brinley decided to help out in the kitchen this year. 

Maitland-Heflin Thanksgiving. We were glad to have everyone at our house for the holiday. Only people missing were McKinley and Taylor. 

What a difference in Thanksgiving plates. The left is our meal in Nashville with all of our favorites. The right was a huge milestone for me. After 36 Thanksgivings I finally tried ham for the first time. It was actually pretty good. I can't believe that I have missed out on 36 years of it. 

McKinley's roommate JK gave us this Superman puzzle so we went ahead and put it together. It was only 500 pieces so it wasn't too bad. It is actually double sided and the opposite side is just a huge Superman logo.

Landon has become my new sports watching buddy. He knows all the players on the team and he has become a huge fan of Oscar Tshiebwe. He even brought some of his leftover Halloween candy to munch on during the game. He also always wants some Goodfellas if he is going downtown.

Jennifer's older sister Julie and her son Micah came to a UK game too! It was good to catch up and see them for a while. Micah even got to get Coach Cal to sign his basketball. 

After the final home football game the guys I work for in recruiting asked if I wanted tickets to the Louisville game. Of course I did. Jennifer had to work so I only asked for 3 tickets for myself and the kids. It was honestly one of my most favorite sporting events that I have ever been too. Both kids were into the game, until it became a blow out in the second quarter. 

Everything about the night went as well as it could go. From the parking to the security guards it was all great. We couldn't find parking and I had never been to the stadium before. I followed some other cars and they pulled into a lot so I just parked. Turns out it was a lot for staff. I just told the kids to keep walking. I thought there was a slight chance we might be towed, but it was a risk I was willing to take. Next the kids brought in more Halloween candy and small Gatorade. The security guard who looked through our bag asked and I told him the truth. He looked at me and the kids and said have a great night. 

L's down all day everyday! I was literally on cloud 9 with my two kids being into the game. It made me so happy seeing them have fun and cheer on the CATS!

The Heflin kids taking some naps. Brinley fell asleep on the way to the game and Landon fell asleep on the way home. 

Jennifer and I got to go out on a date night to see the CATS play. Still not Jennifer's idea of a great night out, but she enjoys spending time with me. 

November was filled with lots of memories and a lot of sporting events, which really benefits someone like me who loves all athletic games. We also got to spend time with lots of family and friends, which is something that I am very thankful for. Thanks for reading and God bless!