ElleAnna's New Adventure

Yesterday, Elle had an amazing new experience. I so wish I had taken photos, but I didn't... the look on her face was beyond priceless. ElleAnna went to her first salebarn! My parents were selling calves and Elle got to watch. The annual day the fat calves are sold has ALWAYS been a big deal in my family. When Ranelle and I were at home, my parents would often come get us from school even so that we could be there. When Bryant and Alex were little, and my husband was farming full time for my parents, they too got in on the excitement.

ElleAnna loved seeing the animals in the arena. She counted how many "brown" ones were there, how many black, how many had a white spot on their head, etc. She knew Grampa's cows had blue tags in their ears and recognized them as they came inside to be sold. Actually, when we drive down the road ALL the cows she sees are Grampa's cows, so he has a bigger herd than he ever realized! :-) She wasn't bothered by the loud auctioneer, but she was amazed when she told her daddy later about the adventure that he could talk just like that too!

When Mom and Dad's calves were about half done selling, Elle needed to go potty. As I was taking her out, she got mad, wanted to stay, was afraid she would miss something... I told her we would hurry, but if she needed to go potty we had to go now and not wait for the cows to be done. When we came back in, they had just finished and were moving on to another farmer's livestock. Elle didn't really notice and went back to her counting game. She did not want to leave though when Grampa and Grama were ready. There were still cows selling for goodness sake, it was not time to go! We went to the dining room though and she ate M and M's and drank hot chocolate to her heart's content though, so that made it a little easier to handle!

It was great to see the sparkle in her eyes and know that this was something that she would have NEVER experienced without coming to us, to our family. She is greatly loved and none of us can imagine our world without her in it. I know that when she fights with her brothers over me and says "MY MOMMY" that I am loved too. She is full of spunk and energy and I am glad that we can help her along life's journey just as she does for us!
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