April 2025

This little guy is tough. Look at the kids that he is having to go up against. He has gotten so much better throughout the season and I am so proud of him. Landon gets in there and fights for the ball with anyone. 

A patient's mother gave me this puzzle that she said was impossible. I didn't have much time to work on it because of sports every night after work. Well, I finally found some time during the kids Spring Break. It was a very difficult puzzle and I was extremely happy to finish it. 

Spring Break and we didn't go anywhere. That meant we had plenty of time for some puzzles. Brinley really got into them and did two whole ones on her own. Landon, not to be out done, did one too!

Landon wanted to pick his whole puzzle up just to prove that he could do it. 

Landon and I finally found some time to make it over to McKinley's house to finish the legacy game that we had started when he was off on paternity leave with Nora. Fabled Fruit was a decent little game. It became a little monotonous at times, but it was a great way to ease us into legacy games. 

Brinley's team played Bryan Station, which has her friend Isla's sister on it. Isla will actually be joining the Station team next year. 

I got this 2,000 piece puzzle because it was Disney characters. We didn't have a table big enough to lay it all out. I am so glad that we didn't lose any pieces because at one point we had it on three different tables. 

Landon had tryouts and was selected to join the Southeastern Slam. He is ready to get back together with all of his baseball friends. 

Brinley decided she had enough of the long hair and got it all chopped off again.

Aunt TayTay came to watch Brinley play in her ballgame. Nora couldn't come because JV doesn't play until late and she had already been put to bed. 

They were having a concert at Kroger Field and I really liked the artist, Tyler Childers. At the last minute we decided to go downtown for dinner and I just drove over to see if we could listen in. Well, it was perfect timing. The parking attendants had left and we pulled into a spot right next to the stadium. We stayed and listened to about 7 or 8 songs. We even caught a really awesome drone show. 

Happy Easter. Even though the kids are too old, they still got Easter baskets. They both said they wanted bunny pancakes because it was a tradition. Landon doesn't like chocolate chips so he covered his in whipped cream and sprinkles. 

Look who the kids ran into at church for Easter, Nora. 

Grandma and Grandpa came up to catch the kids playing in their games.

While they were in town we celebrated an early birthday for my mom. Landon delivered breakfast in bed to Grandma. 

Landon and I pulled a double header. We went to his game and then headed over to watch the end of Brinley's JV game. 

I finished another book. It was a really interesting read. This guy graduated college and then decided to join the monastery. It talked a lot about their policies and the way they think about life. 

We made a surprise visit to my parents house in Livermore. We were on our way to Granddaddy Clayton's and made a quick bathroom stop at my childhood home. 

Granddaddy and Memom's house flooded and had 18 inches of water standing inside. A bunch of the family showed up to the house on this weekend to try and help clean up and see what could be salvaged. It was devastating inside. So much had to just be thrown into the dumpster. They are antique collectors so they had tons of things all throughout the house. It was great to see them, but not under the circumstances. 

We came back from western Kentucky and at about 10 at night Landon remembered that he had homework due the next day. As you can see he was a little tired and Jennifer was helping him type. He kept being woke up by his mother and then saying that his eyes were open the whole time. 

Taylor and Nora came to watch Landon play. The game was relatively boring and Nora was fading quickly so she decided to head out before the game ended. When she left they were losing 13-5. They brought Landon into pitch for the first time of the year. You know. What did they have to lose. Well, they made an amazing comeback to win the game. It was awesome and it was the first moment I saw Landon happy on a ball field this season. It was so great to see. 

It was that time to donate blood again. I try to be pretty regular about my donations and try to get in about every 2 months when eligible. This was my 70th donation. 

Another night of softball and a photographer came and took shots of all the girls. Again they got some really great action shots of our girl. 

March 2025

I started my birthday off with donuts. I had heard about this new place and wanted to give it a shot. The donuts looked better than they tasted. I need to learn my lesson and only go to my favorites on my birthday. Maybe I will learn my lesson next year!

We rushed downtown to grab some Goodfellas before the UK basketball game. Jennifer couldn't find parking so the girls went over to another location. We enjoyed some breadsticks and pizza before going into watch the UK vs. Auburn game. I enjoy watching the Cats play, but today was not their day. They got destroyed by the number 1 ranked team in the nation. 

A family picture on my 40th. I was finally able to join the big 4-0 club with Jennifer. 

One of my favorite pastimes is jigsaw puzzles and I was able to complete one with the family for my birthday. 

I had a day off so I asked Jennifer to head out to lunch with me. I surprised her with a drive to the nearest Long John Silver's, which was about 30 minutes. We both enjoy it, but it is one of Jennifer's favorites.

My work had their second annual college and career fair. It was a huge success and we all enjoyed getting to hear former UK Football player Tashawn Manning give a talk. He was actually a childhood cancer survivor so he truly had a first hand experience that all of these children did too. 

The kids participated in their school's DanceBlue Mini Marathon. I got the top picture from my friend and creator of DanceBlue, Jennifer Mynear. This was Brinley's second time participating at Hayes and Landon's first. 

I picked the kids up from the mini marathon and then took them for a little treat at Graeter's Ice Cream. Landon told me that I had to do it because I took Brinley last year after the mini. 

It was a sunny day and the kids were off from school so they went over to see Nora. At the moment she is really enjoying rides in her pink car. 

Landon after his lacrosse game. I don't know if he was prepared for the amount of contact that the game was played with. Those boys were in there bumping and pushing everyone around. It didn't help that Landon was one of the smallest ones out there. 

Our financial advisor had a customer appreciation night at Rupp Arena. You could come in and shoot around on the floor and even tour the locker room. I had been before, but the kids never had. Brinley had some event so Landon and I headed down to play in Rupp. We took plenty of pictures and shot a lot on the court. I can't imagine actually playing in front of 20,000 screaming fans. 

A couple pictures from both of us on the locker room tour. Landon has never been able to see UK win a championship. I have only been alive for 3, but would happily enjoy watching some more.

Landon as the Y out on the court. The bottom picture was actually his favorite thing of all - the snacks! He drank a couple sodas and took two boxes of popcorn home. 

I finished another book. This one was a autobiography of Michael J Fox. It was a great book and he was really a positive thinker for everything that he had been through in life. 

My gift to myself for my 40th birthday was a trip to the SEC Tournament. My friend Nick and I went down on Wednesday to watch every game possible. Kentucky was supposed to play until Thursday night. We had 7 games to watch before it was time for the Wildcats. It was the most basketball that I had watched in a short amount of time, but it was awesome. 

Thankfully Kentucky won their first game against Oklahoma, but it was a wild one. We were up by 7 with about a minute left. A series of turnovers later and we were losing by one with just a couple of seconds. Thankfully Otega Oweh came down and hit the game winner. The crowd was mostly UK fans and the place went nuts! Unfortunately the next day we lost in the quarterfinals to Alabama. Nick sold our semifinal and finals tickets to make the trip a little less expensive. 

Instead of watching teams we didn't want to see we started the drive back home and even stopped by to visit the Corvette Museum. The place was really interesting and had lots of awesome cars. We rode the simulators and I got one up to 160 mph. I was not prepared for the speed and the turns. I unfortunately wrecked in the simulation. I guess that means I shouldn't push a car that fast in real life. 

I got back from the SEC Tournament on March 15th which just so happens to be the date of when I proposed to Jennifer in New Orleans. I always make her beignets and this year was no different. I did have some helpers this year. Brinley fried them and Landon put on his favorite, the powdered sugar. 

At the SEC Tournament Nick and I went and picked out food and snacks to eat in between games. He said that when he goes to the grocery on vacation he picks food at the store like his 10 year old self. When I came home, I told the kids they could pick out any 5 items at the store like what we did. The picks were definitely interesting to say the least. 

Brinley had her pictures for the Henry Clay Softball team. The big picture is her best friend on the team, Peyton. She has been a big helper to Brinley since she joined the team last fall. She helped her get to know all the girls. The bottom right picture is of all the 7th graders that made the team. These girls will hopefully spend the next 6 years playing softball together. 

Brinley's first softball game and there was a photographer there taking pictures. Brinley started at 3rd base and bat second in the lineup for the JV team. Her first at bat she laid down a beautiful bunt to move the runner around. She had a couple balls hit her way and played well in the field. 

Proud of this girl! Just played her first high school JV game as a 7th grader. 

Some more pictures of the team from picture day. 

The solo pictures of Brinley on picture day. She was excited about a blue smoke bomb for her pictures, but they didn't turn out in the photos. 

Brinley reunited with two of her former Rampage teammates when they played Douglass. Brinley got Zoey out on a line drive to end the game. She said her goal is to get all the Rampage girls out at some point in her career. 

Of course both kids played games on the same nights. We had to split up so that we could have a parent at both parks. I didn't even realize it (Jennifer pointed it out), but our kids Angels and Devils. 

The kids are always happy to participate in free cone day. It is always on the first day of Spring. Apparently someone ordered a dipped cone and didn't come forward to claim it so Brinley took it. That left an extra cone and Landon said he wanted it. Of course he couldn't finish the cones, but he gave it an effort. 

Landon has had a rough start to his time in the Majors at Southeastern. It has taken a while for him to fight off the nerves of playing with all these guys up on the turf. He has been so nervous that his glove has fallen off while catching a ball because his hands were so sweaty. It has also been hard for me because this was the first time in 4 years that I haven't been his coach. Seeing him struggle and not have anyone to console him on the bench was hard for me to watch. I am hopeful that it will prove beneficial in the years to come.

Brinley said she wanted to try and do the full 24 hour DanceBlue Marathon with all the college students. I asked the students at work and they were happy to let her come participate. The only thing was that we had to provide our own meals. They even put us in a morale group so that we could have someone to play all the games with. Brinley enjoyed making slime and loved the Harry Potter hour. She killed it on Harry Potter trivia. My favorite hour was at 3 am when they did a rave. 

At 7 am Brinley asked if we could go out to the car which was where we kept all our belongings and snacks. She asked if she could sit in the car. The marathoners are not allowed to sit or sleep for 24 hours. She didn't want the college students see her sit. She told me too that she wanted to go home. I told her to make it through the 8 am hour so that we could say we made it halfway and did 12 hours. She fell asleep on the way home. I was very proud of her for her effort and she did much better at the dancing than I did. 

We went back for the last few hours of the marathon and things took a little turn for the worst when they came out on stage and announced that due to weather they had to end the marathon 2 hours early. So, they proceeded to cram the last 4 hours into a two hour time slot in order to get everyone out safely before the storms. Brinley and I were out dancing on the floor again, but I struggled heavily because the final dance you face the crowd and you can't see the people on stage in front of you. They raised over 2.3 million dollars which was a new record. It was an awesome time that I got to spend with Brinley.

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.