The UK Way, Cousins! & Palm Sunday

Whenever I moved to Kentucky, I quickly realized how OBSESSED Kentuckians are with all things University of Kentucky. Now don't get me wrong - I come from a family of Clemson University fans and I LOVE me some CU sports and love even more tailgaiting with tons of them to cheer on the tigers during a football game. So...having said all that - I get being a fan - I do. Well, there is no "getting" the way Kentuckians are as fans. Now, I'm not going to lump everyone into one category here, but I will say that time and time again I've seen people sacrifice family plans, important commitments, even work for UK games and all I'm sayin' is - really?!?!? At the end of the day folks - it's a BALL GAME not a life or death matter. I've gotten criticized A LOT since moving here about my disinterest in UK sports, but I would like to defend myself once and for all and state the following: a) I am not from here b) I did not go to UK nor do I have any affiliation with UK other than living in the same city c) I do not chose to be non-authentic and truthfully I kind of thought that's what you were when you jumped on a fan bandwagon just because it was cool so I've not done that period end of story. I cannot say that I understand the level to which people take it but I do not criticize it unless I see a direct negative affect on friends and family and then I share my opinion but people straight hate on me for not being a UK fan...well people: I'm sorry! I would like to also add to my defense here that my husband is OBSESSED with not only UK sports, but WVU sports and truthfully any other sports related anything that is on the radio or on the TV. Tim and I are both EXTREMELY competitive people and athletes so sometimes when we are playing a sport together and or watching one together we can get a tad "wrapped up" and forget that other things need to be done around the house or you know, with our kids (high...we do have children to take care of that are more important than any score of any game..just sayin'). So..when we got married I quickly realized I was going to need to sacrifice a tad my love of watching sports because he would be glued to the couch for hours and we can't both do that through all seasons and all televised games, you feel me? I realized rather quickly that his passion of sports would not be dwindling just like my need for and desire to exercise and be involved in endurance sports would never change - you know - those meet in the middle kind of things.

 Now, having said all of that - I kind of started to get into UK basketball here at the end of the season. It all started when I went to the gym with Kennedy and left Avery here napping during the Vanderbilt v UK game so Tim could have the TV all to himself. Well, don't you know ALL the TV's were tuned into the game, so I decided to watch because like I said - I like watching I just don't feel like I can anymore. Well, I got INTO that game y'all - so much so that I accidentally killed the treadmill 3 times by slapping the automatic shut off emergency stop button and then I walked completely off the back of it at one point too. So funny! Pretty much since that game, I've tried to watch when I can and this past weekend Tim even had Avery in on it (not sure where this onesie came from ;)

So, UK just won their 8th National Championship and it's been a 24/7 sea of blue since then and the passion has been palpable. I still can't say I "get it", but I can say I get it a little more.

This past weekend we had some visitors - COUSINS! The girls had their spring break and so Catina decided to come and see us for part of it - we (especially Kennedy) were so excited! We had a great time - we went to Orange Leaf, ate out at Red Robin, went to see The Lorax and did a little shopping. Mostly we just let the girls play and play they did! I wish I had a picture of them sleeping three wide in Kennedy's bed, but I didn't manage to snap that. I did, however get a group picture before church and their departure on Sunday. We are so thankful they came to visit!

This past Sunday was Palm Sunday and after church there was an Easter Egg hunt and mini-festival but the weather had other plans. After sermon we all walked as a congregation (Palm Branches in hand) down to the local park where the egg hunt and festival were set to be had:

 Once we got to the park,the children's director hurried to get the egg hunt started as another line of storms was upon us. Kennedy ran off with Daddy to participate in the egg hunt and I parked Avery near her buddies Eden and Rhett (who obviously wasn't impressed with the girlie sandwhich). It clearly became somewhat of a stroller hub.

This is my pastors daughter Eden Joy. Her name is so perfectly fitting because she is SUCH A JOY! As you can see - she was dressed in her UK attire:

The egg hunter and her loot - covered in rain and grass but candy filled nonetheless:

Avery enjoyed her palm branch so much she hung onto it during the egg hunt and the entire walk back to the church as the rain started coming back upon us.