Eric and Jill

This last weekend, we headed down to Seguin for the Texas Lineman Rodeo Competition. There were lineman from all over the state gathered together to see who could complete their regular jobs the quickest while still doing it properly. With every mistake they made they were given gigs. It started with all the apprentices having to take a written exam which would be huge in determining the winner. I don't know if Eric ever studied as hard for a test.
Heading off for the test! (Yep, they had to wear a hard hat and gloves to the event!)

Getting ready to show off his rope tying skills!

Hurtman Rescue. Eric's last event of the day

Waiting to do his next event. His group had a hard schedule where they were stuck waiting for over an hour at a time.

The competition ended around three-thirty and we ran out and got lunch and showered. We came back for their dinner and award ceremony that evening. Eric didn't place but his co-worker Bobby got 3rd overall. It was a total shock for him which is always a great surprise. We'll find out where Eric placed in a couple weeks. Since 3rd was only 6 points above Eric, he'll definitely be in the top 10! Eric did get 100 on every event but he only scored an 80 on the test. Everyone said the test was harder than usual especially since the top score was only a 92. With everything, he was awesome!!! It was so much fun to watch him work and to learn so much more about what he does every day while I relax at home!

LaNea was such a trooper the whole weekend. She spent most of her time either in my arms or in the stoller. She was so happy though that everyone made comments and would smile back! She did have a very hard time with taking naps both Friday and Saturday which resulted in her getting a touch giddy as the day progressed. As you can see, she was laughing at who knows what in these pictures. Just excessively happy! Also, they had some amazing grass by the pavillion where the dinner was held Saturday night. As this isn't very common in Texas, we let her crawl as much as she desired but she seemed to just enjoy making laps around me. She loved it though!

This is Eric's pole climb competition. He had to carry an egg up in a little bag. When he got to the top he had to hang the bag and put the egg in his mouth as he climbed back down. The fastest person made it in 20:14 seconds which is almost unheard of. Eric got 34:00 seconds which was still great.

With Adam and Karissa in town we were in search of some fun entertainment in our area. So we headed down to Brenham to visit the Blue Bell Ice Cream Tour. We don't get out much so we made sure to take enough pictures to guarantee that we did in fact go out! As you can see, LaNea wasn't sure what she thought of this trip and her lack of a nap didn't help either.

Adam and Karissa were great troopers, waking up extra early to accompany us!She's really not a big fan of hats but Eric just had to have her try it just once!

Pictures weren't allowed on the tour so this is at the end where we all got to try some of the different ice creams. We were going to let LaNea try just a bite or two of hers but she wouldn't let that happen. She wanted it all!

The tour was really interesting and we all learned way more than we expected about our favorite treat. I was amazed by how quickly the ice cream was made and how much they actually make in a single day. Blue Bell ice cream is known for being deliciously creamy and it definately didn't disappoint.

She is just getting so big, I could hardly believe it was already time for her 9 Month appointment. She is doing wonderfully though and that's always nice to hear. Her stats were still in the same line as they have always been. Weight was 17lbs (15%) and Height was 29 ins (86%).

She's a lot of fun to have around and her moods always make me laugh. She's be so so happy 90 % of the time and then you do one thing she doesn't like and life instantly becomes miserable till something goes right again. She also has learned the basics to what I'm saying but its a 50/50 chance as to whether she'll actually listen.
Now at a first glance you might just look and see a mess but me, I see my daughter FINALLY getting herself into the sitting position and being okay with it.

So LaNea has been getting bigger and a lot more daring. For starters she loves to climb and I'm having a hard time keeping her from hurting herself. She's not walking or even standing still yet but she has no problem walking along the furniture. She has gotten over her army crawl stage and now only does the regular one. She's quite fast at it and always keeps Eric and I on our feet. She is also starting to mimick our words and she's said both "Ok" and "yeah". She's still just as happy as anything and her best friend is definately Izzie. They spend a good portion of the day following each other around. Her favorite toy is the turtle in the picture below. She'll play with that all day long and just chew on his arms and legs. She just loves helping me out with the laundry. She climbed in there all by herself and has done it every time since.

She is becoming such a good eater. She's always loved to eat and hated drinking her bottle but its fun to watch her feed herself. She tends to eat two handfuls and then throw one on the floor. I wonder if she thinks its good luck or something.

And I finally figured out how to add videos online! Yeah me! I might just post some older ones that I have too now even if they're from a few months back. :)

This is Lanie playing in the pool. I tried to get it of her playing with Izzie but she likes watching the camera too much.

So while at the park today, we decided to show LaNea what its like to be buried in sand. Our park doesn't quite have sand though so we made due with the rocks. She wasn't really sure about it but totally humored us. :)

This last weekend we got to travel to Missouri to watch Josh graduate from High School. Can hardly believe he's old enough to be graduating.

First time Lanie got to meet Aunt Laura! Loved her right from the start.

Still trying to make out what is exactly going on with all these strangers.

Celebrating our new graduate

Watching everyone play in the water and hottub while getting nice and dry on Grandpa's lap.