February 2025

Well, the day finally arrived when Coach Calipari was going to return to Rupp Arena as a visiting coach. I had put my tickets up for sale early in the year with a crazy high price. I figured if anyone bought them then I guess I wouldn't go. It just so happens that someone wanted to pay $453 per ticket to sit in the upper arena. That was a nice surprise, but then I had some regrets because I was excited to see the game. My friend Nick sold his tickets to the game and was going to go with a friend. As luck would have it for me, the friend he was going with got sick and couldn't go. Nick and I ended up both selling our season tickets and still got into Rupp. We got there early and there was a buzz around the stadium. We even sat down close and watched the pregame shoot around. I also got to see some of the DanceBlue students that volunteer in my clinic. 

I hadn't put up any of my puzzles because I never knew where I wanted them. I finally decided on a wall in my closet. I only decided to hang the ones of places that we had visited. I really like how it turned out and it adds a little bit of color to my closet walls. 

We had a group Facetime with all the Heflin and Maitland grandkids to say hello to the birthday girl Eliana. It is hard to believe that she is already 3 years old. We weren't able to get up to Columbus for her party, but are excited to celebrate with her in a couple of weeks. 

Next birthday up is Jennifer! She is the big 4-0 this year! Jennifer wanted a Nothing Bundt Cake this year. The kids were actually going to be at an overnight middle school retreat with church so we celebrated Jennifer a day early. We got her the Wicked movie and a set of rings that have the kids name's on them. 

Jennifer and I both took the day off to celebrate her. We went to lunch at Dad's Favorite, which was delicious. Got her some Starbucks and ended the night at Harry's for dinner. We ran into a couple of people we knew that sent Jennifer home with the largest slice of chocolate cake I have ever seen. We enjoyed a quiet day at home, took a walk in the park, and even watched a movie from our childhood, Legally Blond It still just blows my mind when I think about it, but I have been able to celebrate 25 birthdays with this lady. There is nobody else I would have wanted to celebrate with, except my girl. 

I was able to finish four more Disney themed puzzles since the start of February. These were all pretty quick 500 piece puzzles. The only difficult part was that I didn't have a picture to look at to know what it actually looked like.

I park at McKinley and Taylor's house and walk to work every morning. If Nora's window blinds are open and the lights are on then I stop at the window to say hello. Well, one morning I was surprised to find out that Nora was going to be a big sister. It was early on so I wasn't allowed to tell, but I was going to be an uncle again.

With the kids still at the church retreat I talked Jennifer into heading downtown for the UK game with me. We had a good day, with not much stress because the Cats destroyed South Carolina. We played my over under game with the score and Jennifer won both halves. 

I picked up Brinley early from the winter retreat so that we could go to her last Her Knight Dance. We have gone to quite a few of these over the years and this is officially her last year. You age out of the event at 12. This one was probably my favorite one. We both enjoyed our Chick-fil-A dinner and then it was time to hit the dance floor. Brinley and I really are not big flashy dancers, but we both really enjoy the songs that get the crowd going. YMCA, chicken dance, and Cha Cha Slide are where it is at for the two of us. She even didn't put up a fight when it came to slow dancing this year. We spent the time talking about life and whatever came up. 

Brinley was also really excited to see one of her Rampage Softball teammates at the dance. They caught up on things because they haven't started summer ball practice quite yet. They both rocked out to the Cotton Eye Joe line dance. 

Brinley enjoyed doing the Cha Cha Slide with me. I am thankful that we went this last time together. I have enjoyed going with her over the years, even if I have to put on dress clothes. 

Landon told me earlier in the month that he was sort of bored with UK basketball games. I can't fathom that because I really enjoy going and the atmosphere of the stadium. I wanted to respect his wishes so I asked my friend Bobby if he wanted to go to the Tennessee game with me. We ended up in the lower level when we heard about a couple of open seats. Kentucky played great and beat a top five team. Rupp Arena was electric and it seemed like Kentucky was back.

Brinley had been working out with the Henry Clay Softball team since the fall, but she officially made the team. She was selected to be a member of the JV team. She was a little disappointed about not making varsity, but we were very proud of her. She is one of three 7th graders that made the team.

Landon also made the JV lacrosse team for his middle school. This was his first time playing and he is really excited about it. Besides the frown this is how he now has to walk into school, with his backpack on his back and his lacrosse bag in the front. I am excited to get to learn about a new sport and see how it all works. 

Nora had her first birthday party. She had been sick the week leading up to it so they cancelled all the friends coming over and it ended up being just family. Look at all these people focused on the big 1 year old!

Brinley with the birthday girl!

I have a lot of trouble with my mouth and saying whatever comes into my head. My pastor Jon Weece showed this little mnemonic THINK at church one Sunday and I need to be better about using it before speaking. If I follow these five simple rules then I would maybe not get into too much trouble.

January 2025

The kids both had science fair projects that they worked on over winter break. Landon’s project was about the effect of room temperature on the burn rate of a candle. Brinley's project was on does smell affect taste. She would blindfold people and put a scent up to their nose and then feed them something different. They were supposed to try and tell what it was that they tasted. All of Jennifer’s family got to participate in Brinley’s project. It made for lots of laughs. 

Landon and Myles must have been into some construction at MiMi's house.

Family photo this year at MiMi's. She didn't have any unique props or pictures for us to take this year. Pap Pap had taken all of their home videos from their childhood and put them on a jump drive. I watched Jennifer grow up over the years on the videos. It was pretty cute.

Brinley has wanted a dog for a very long time. I’m not a dog person, but I was willing to give it a try for my little girl. My friend Carol let us puppy sit for a night to see if it was something we would like. We had trouble getting him into the car. Apparently he hates car rides. Brinley sat next to him in the back seat and tried to calm him down. 

Leroy was a very good dog. Brinley was a very good dog sitter. She loved little Leroy and could hardly let him get out of her sight. Landon wasn’t the biggest fan mostly because he would put his paws up on his shoulders and even licked him in the face. We also picked the coldest possible weekend to puppy sit. He was going to stay two nights with us but because of the approaching storm Carol came and got him early. Like I said Leroy was a really good dog, but I further discovered that I really am not a dog owner kind of person. I didn’t like feeling on edge at any moment he was going to chew on something he shouldn’t, eat something he shouldn’t, or run out an open door. It was not as peaceful of a weekend as it was for Brinley. 

I got caught at church unprepared when the snow hit earlier than I had expected. In about an hour we got 1-2 inches. My little toes got cold when they dipped down into the snow. 

Winter storm Blair came and left a lot of snow and some ice all over Lexington. I believe we got at least 8 inches of snow and thankfully just a half inch of ice. The entire city practically shut down. The first day of school was cancelled for 2025 and then the rest of the week. The following week they had to have three days of NTI because buses still couldn’t get to all the kids in town. 

Landon loved snow days. He wanted snow cream everyday and even became the best hide and seek player in the house. Brinley and I looked for almost 20 minutes and could never find him. He was even toying with us and talking and beating in walls to get us to run around the house in circles. I eventually found him covered up by suitcases in the spare bedroom closet. 

Jennifer took a picture of us out the back window. The kids and I went to get a little sledding in Jacobson Park. The kids lasted about an hour before saying they were cold and wanted to head home. 

First puzzle of the year was this depiction of Noah's Ark. It had a couple of twists in it. You can see a polar bear drinking a soda, gingerbread men up in the tree, and signs for zoo food. I made a goal for myself to put together 10 jigsaw puzzles for the year. Pretty good start to the year finishing the first one within the first week.  I got this puzzle from MiMi and PapPap.

I took a walk in Jacobson Park. The road was completely covered and nobody was out there. I walked the entire park and thankfully had the metal treads on my boots or I would have slipped and fell multiple times. It was so beautiful and very peaceful. I actually was getting sweaty walking around with a couple of layers on. 

We all went out to the park to play in the snow. The girls made baby snowmen. It looks like Brinley even tried to keep one in the deep freeze. 

The second puzzle of the year was this Thomas Kincaid puzzle that I have had for years. I have always avoided this one because of all the white in the picture. It actually went pretty quick though. 

Landon and I worked on a large snowman. We built a pretty good sized one. 

I took the kids over to McKinley and Taylor’s one day while I was at work. They had to get up at 6:30 am to ride with me. I took some foods over that I knew they would eat. I didn’t know if they had enough food for the storm to feed my kids too. They had their baguette at 9 am. Brinley changed Nora’s diaper for the first time. The rest of the time apparently they spent playing on their new phones that they got. 

Third puzzle of the month ended up being a family function. I opened up this puzzle that I had done before and told everyone that they had to do at least one donut with me. Well, about three hours later we completed the entire 1,000 piece puzzle. I could not believe that we were able to finish it that quickly. 

Landon and I went out to get a little more sledding in. We headed over to our favorite sledding hill, the one at the old Shriner’s building. It was a great day for sledding and he even tried to snowboard down the hill on the sled. Thankfully he is much younger than me and he falls don’t keep him down for a week. 

Landon and I headed downtown after work for a Tuesday night game. It was against 11th ranked Texas A&M. We walked into the stadium and a random guy saw us heading to the upper level. He asked if we wanted to sit lower level then gave us tickets right behind the eRupption Zone. It was awesome seeing the game from a different point of view, but Landon could barely see over the students who are required to stand the entire game. UK had a great game and ended up beating the Aggies by 12. 

The 4th puzzle of the year was this Lego mini figures one that I had in my closet. I started it one day and got about twenty of the figures done. Well when I returned home from work the next day Brinley had been cranking away and finished it. She left the last piece for me to put in like I do for the kids when they help me. I was super impressed with how quickly she was able to get them put together. 

It had been over five years since I ran the Dopey Challenge. The sticker on the back of my car has become cracked and worn down. I decided it was time to take it off. I have gotten so used to finding my car in the parking lot by looking for this decal. I'm afraid I might be wondering around a parking lot soon looking for my vehicle. 

Well, baseball and softball seasons are right around the corner. The kids wouldn’t go to D-bat to work on hitting so I brought it to them. I usually have the net set up in the garage, but it is way too cold so the next best thing was to put it up in the living room. They really need to get some tee work in and it is warm inside. So this will have to do until we get some warmer weather. 

These two fight like cats and dogs sometimes, but I do think they really love one another. They have never really known life without one another. I love these two more than they can ever imagine. 

Landon and I went to watch the CATS play. Apparently my phone didn't want to put Landon in focus so this was the only photo that we got of us at the game. This was Kentucky's first home loss of the season, but it was a back and forth game 102-97.

Jennifer has spoiled this little boy. He can't just put a cover on anymore. He asks his mom to tuck him into his blanket. I think he looks like a little cocoon. 

My fifth puzzle of the year was this Thomas Kincaid house puzzle. Landon loves to see if he can pick up the puzzle. This one isn't glued, just the pieces stick together good. 

I had done this puzzle before. I was surprised that my last pieces were so close to one another. It looks like the kids helped me with this puzzle in 2021, but this time only Jennifer helped me. 

Puzzle number seven of the year was this underwater scene. A friend let me borrow this 500 piece puzzle. I finished it in just a few hours. Now on to the next one!

Some of the other 8 puzzles that I did in January. The kids helped on some which makes me happy, but quite a bit I did solo. 

Did this puzzle about seven years apart. It took me the longest time to figure who LP was. Apparently when I started doing this to the last piece I decided that I had to label it LP, which meant last piece. 

The Monopoly puzzle proved to be very difficult when it got to the inside part. It was all the same color and some pieces didn't even connect. We discovered that the box had all the shapes shown on the top of the box. We would use the little Jesus to hold our spot to show what we were looking for. 

I have started trying to get out and get a walk in the neighborhood or park. I have slowly started trying to work in a little bit of running. This day I was running and just happened to look up and I was running straight towards this little guy. I'm glad I noticed it before I got sprayed.

I have been trying to do a better job about getting the kids involved in the kitchen. Landon learned how to make some jiffy cornbread. He did every step. I think small little tasks like this help gain some confidence in the kitchen. Now we have to move up to a more advanced task. 

I made a goal for myself to read 10 books for the year of 2025. So far in January I was able to finish my first four books. The first one I finished was the stories of my mother's childhood. There were even a few stories in there that I had never heard.Then I read the Elmira Express about Ernie Davis who was a Hesiman Trophy winner and first pick in the NFL. Unfortunately he passed away from cancer before ever getting to play in the NFL. 

I went for the first time I can ever remember as an adult to pick out a book for myself. I found a few options, but this was the first one I decided to read. It was a really interesting read. He was raised in the town next to my hometown. He struggled through a lot of life with relationships and then with drugs. I thought it was a very interesting read and I finished it in just about 24 hours. 

The fourth book I read in 2025 was a John Cena motivational/inspirational book. It was little quotes that would make me think and ponder. I was able to finish it in about 30 minutes. These were some of my favorite quotes that I found in the book.