Just a swingin'

After we got home from our trip to Canada, Cutter needed some outside time, so we took him to the park. Stephanie and I met up and took the boys out for a little sunshine! Cutter loved the swings. And the merry-go-round. And the slide! What can I say, this boy loves to be outside!!

After the swing, we got on the slide! Of course Cutter couldn't go down by himself, so I went back a few years and got on the slide with him. Growing up the side was one of my favorite things to play on, I hope that Cutter enjoys it as much as I did!
Then it was time for the merry-go-round! I never really cared for it, since I have a weak stomach, but Cutter seems to like it. He did really well and hung on while we spun it, slow of course!
Cutter and Wyatt play really well together. They are all smiles on the merry-go-round!
The boys on what we think is a "newer" version of the monkey bars. It looked more like a spider!
We packed a lunch for the boys and had a picnic after all the fun we had. We went early enough in the morning that it was still pretty cool out, but by the time we got done, it was clear we needed to go. It was HOT and it was time for a nap!

Diary: Day 7 - Homeward Bound!

We were so sad to leave Canada! I was extremely SAD, that place is awesome. I didn't watch tv for a week, not even the news! Greg started out driving when we left, but soon the sickness came over him again and I had to take over the wheel. When we got to South Dakota, Greg pulled in to a McD's and we switched drivers! Cutter decided that he wanted a turn at the wheel, he did a great job a getting us home quickly!



Seriously though, I drove most of the way home! I didn't mind. I love driving and sight seeing, even though I travel a lot, I don't always get to see the beauty of our country. I had a great time, just taking it all in. Greg and Cutter slept a lot of the drive home, due to not feeling well. Grandma was a great right hand man. She hasn't been in to Canada in 5-6 years and she could still tell me where to go, not even looking at a map!

Overall, our visit to Canada was AMAZING!! I can not tell you the gratitude I have and love that I feel for our "Canadian" family! We will most certainly go back, hopefully it won't be too far from now!

Diary: Day 6 - Just relaxing!

**Sorry for the delay in Diary: Day6, I was having technical issues getting the pictures to upload. Either I or Blogger fixed the issue, not quite sure which one, anyway it is fixed and I am able to post pictures now**

Day 6 of our trip left Cutter feeling under the weather, I think due to allergies, since we had visited the farm the day before. Cutter and I relaxed at home, while the Grandma's went to visit an old friend. Greg went golfing, at a one of a kind golf course.Gateway Cities Golf Club is the only golf course where when you tee off and your ball lands an hour later! It is only a nine hole course and only a 2 minute golf cart ride from the house, so Greg was back relaxing with Cutter and I in no time.It also has one-of-a-kind SAND greens! Yes, you read that right, sand greens. Greg was unsure of how to play on them, as no one was able to go play with him that day. The sand greens are treated with motor oil so that the sand doesn't blow away. It is compacted into the ground, which in turn, makes it hard. You are supposed to use these tools to drag a line from your ball to the hole and then rake out the line. Greg had a hard time trying to use the tools, but did the best he could. He had a great time and scored at 45! Hey, no one was looking, except Scott!!After Greg got done golfing and Cutter and I got up from our nap we took another trip into town. Aunt Bette wanted to treat Greg and I to dinner for our 3rd anniversary! Everyone in the family was invited and we had a great time, mingling and eating! Greg had started to feel a little sick himself, so our dinner was cut short. We also had to get up very early in the morning to head back home and we still had some packing to do. Since Greg and I departed dinner early, the family gathered back at Aunt Bette's house to wish a safe drive home. It was so sad to see everyone for one last time. We had such a great visit and it went by so fast! I couldn't believe that we were already saying goodbye, when it felt like we had just said hello! It was way past Cutter's bedtime, but he was the hit of the vacation and I didn't want to leave without them saying goodbye! Dorna did the honors of feeding Cutter before he went to bed. Cathie and Cutter, she loves Cutter so much. He was amazing with everyone and just fit right in! Part of the Davis crew! I wasn't on my game and forgot to get a picture of the whole family! Aunt Bette and Cutter before bed time! Aunt Bette was a great hostess, we will definitely be back!Before leaving on our long trip back to Texas! We had planned to get up early in the morning and get on our way before day light, but Cutter had other plans. He decided to use Thursday morning as the first morning to sleep in. He let us sleep til 7:30, so we got a late start!

Cancel a phonebook!! ~GO GREEN~

GO GREEN and CANCEL a phonebook!! You don't need them, you have the internet. They stack up in a closet or cabinet. Cutter will be using ours as step stools!! :)

Cancel a Phone Book Millions of phone books hit American doorsteps unsolicited every year, to the tune of more than 19 million trees. If you don't want yours, join the 10,000+ already saying "no thanks" at the new www.yellowpagesgoesgreen.org (click on opt-out at the top).

Diary: Day 5 - A "Day" at the Farm

Our "day" at the farm was really only about 2 hours. I think that's good. Good, considering it was raining some of the time and it got really cold. Cutter and I stayed in the truck most of the time, but when we arrived at the barn, which was our first stop, it was still nice out. So, we got out, took some pics and got some much needed fresh manure air!

Cutter wasn't quite sure was to think about being put inside this tire. But after about 30 seconds he thought it was kinda cool and started laughing.

That big tire belongs to this big thing!

<-------------- And that thing is called a combine and it can harvest a lot of acreage, in a short amount of time. Boy, farming sure had changed. It has an air conditioner and even a heater! Which is much needed in Canada. Greg took a tour of the combine and we were hoping to get to harvest some, but with the rain, we were unable to. Greg wants to take a trip back, which we plan to do anyway, but next time he really wants to go harvesting. I told Gene that Greg is free labor so he needs to use and abuse him. But if he does that, Greg may not want to go back; so I better rethink that idea!

That horse in the background, it is the first horse Cutter has ever seen. He laughed and he laughed at the horse. I guess he thought that it looked funny! It was pretty funny horse, as funny as a horse can be! He came up and sniffed Cutter's hand, I wish we had thought about bringing him some carrots, bread, or something yummy, but I didn't plan that well!

Our next stop at the farm took us to a natural spring where the cows get their water. Here is little known fact for all the city people out there; Did you know that cows need salt in their diet? If it is not available they will lick rocks and such until they get what their bodies need, most farmers will place salt blocks by their water source to insure that they get what they need.



Gene owns several thousand acres, so we could have been gone literally all day, but he picked the best places for us to go and get the best picture of what farming is like. We drove around in several different pastures, just looking and talking. Not much farming going on when we were there.

Everything that Gene and his family grow is organic. As part of the Jewish culture, Gene had some rabbi's from New York come and watch as he harvested his organic passover wheat. They are going to return in a few weeks to watch him package it.

Back when people started migrating towards North Portal, they would set up homestead on a piece of land and claim it as theirs. This particular pasture that Gene owns, had been claimed by many families at different times. The reason nobody would stay on it? It was full of white rocks and you couldn't grow anything on it. The families would come in, set up and start moving the rocks; thinking that they could get all the rocks moved to different places and that they could start growing something. This rock wall is a testament to just how much rock was out there and this doesn't do it justice. Eventually the families would realize that it wasn't a good piece of land, pack up and move their family else where. While driving around on this pasture, I can't tell you how many "rock" walls we saw.

After our trip to the farm, we went back to Gene and Cathie's house and had some good ole grub. On the menu tonight, STEAK!! T-Bones and Rib eye. Straight from the cow. And it was awesome.

Daddy, Mommy, Warren #1, Lauren, Warren #2 and Leslie

Blowing kisses to the camera! He is getting better at it!

Leslie, Mommy and Lauren

When I was little, Leslie and I used to be pen pals. I loved getting mail (I still do) and it was extra special when Leslie would send me something. It had been about 8 years since I last saw both Lauren and Leslie, so it was nice to get a chance to hang out and catch up on what is going on in their lives. Lauren married Warren #1, just 2 weeks after Greg and I got married, in Maui. Can I just say that she was one beautiful bride with a gorgeous setting! They just bought some land and have started farming also. Lauren and Warren are waiting on the babies, they have a big house being built and want it to be done before they start working on additional family members (Sorry, Cathie I tried. I thought maybe Cutter being so good would fool her, but it didn't.) Leslie met Warren #2 a few years ago and they have been dating since. I think I may have heard some wedding bells, but Warren #2 just started his own First Aid/CPR training business; so they are waiting for that to take off and then I think we may be hearing them a little louder! Also, while we were there, their sister Nicole, met someone named Warren also! Just friends, but I nicknamed him "Tres" as in #3. It is a big family joke and I wanted to be apart of it!!

Warren #2 and Cutter

Cathie, Mommy, Oma and Aunt Bette

I love my family!

Day 6 keeps Cutter and I at home relaxing and Greg goes to the golf course!! Yes again, but this one is special. Stay tuned!

Apology to my readers!

Ok, to all six of you who read Cutter's blog, ahem Aunt Katie, I am sorry I haven't updated it lately. It's just that we have had alot going on and I just don't have the energy after Cutter goes to bed.

Cutter has some kind of bacterial infection. He woke with 104.7 fever Friday morning. I immediatly took him to the good Doc (I was there in 15 minutes), they drew some blood and his white blood count was over 20,000! Which means he is fighting a major infection somewhere in his body. The good doc thought that it might be the onset of pneumonia again, so they gave him two shots of an antibotic. But, when we took him back on Saturday to do a recheck of the blood work, his white blood count had rose - which means it is bacterial. So the little man got another shot!! Poor guy! After all the shots of antibiotics, the little man got a good dose of the runnies, so now he is on a liquid diet! See, I told you I have been busy and overwhelmed!

I started our day 5 diary, but got too tired to journal it. I will try and work on it tomorrow! But please don't hold me to it, just give me a day or two and I promise it will be up soon!

Thanks for the patience!

P.S. We did get some good news, our family will soon be expanding by one! NO, NOT ME!! My lil sis, Katie, just found out she is expecting again! Due around June 8, 2009! Please pray for a happy and healthy pregnancy!

Diary:Day 4 - Just enjoying family!

What can I say I enjoy family! I love my family. I love everything about being part of a family. And I want nothing more than Cutter to enjoy our family!

Day 4 of our vacation was spent just hanging out with our family. It was Monday, so most of our family members had to go back to work. We, meanwhile, went to visit a small town east of North Portal. Estavan is the closest town to North Portal (and it is about 25 minutes away); it has a small strip mall and a few restaurants. The town is in a major need of workers, we went to eat at a restaurant and it took us an hour and a half to eat! They have been working on rebuilding a bridge in town for a year; the oil companies have been coming in and hiring the crews working on the bridge. They have done twice! They can make two times as much working on the oil rigs, so who wouldn't go!

After our trip to Estavan, we returned to Cathie's house and had dinner. Finally, we had the chance to see Ian. Ian has to be the funniest guy, next to my cousin John, in our family! I have always enjoyed being around him and I couldn't wait for Cutter to meet him. Unfortunately, we were visiting during the week he works, so our visit was short and sweet. He did make the drive from Estavan to come see us and I was super excited. Cutter was asleep for the night, but once Ian walked in the door he had us laughing so hard and loud that we woke him up! Oh well I wanted him to meet Ian anyway!

Ian and Grandma

Ian and Cutter

and the three of us

Day 5 of our trip takes us to the farm! Stay tuned!! :)

Diary:Day 3 - Hanging out, playing the piano & a craft show

Sundays in Texas are lazy days. Sundays in Canada are lazy days too.

The morning air is crisp, the day was bright. We skipped church in lieu of getting a few extra hours of some much needed sleep. Cutter started his morning off by reading, err eating, the Sunday paper - just like his Mommy already. (No I don't eat it, I read it :))

The little man adapts easily to change. He is a wonderful sleeper at home, but I was unsure of how he would do sleeping in another, unfamiliar place. I tried hard to keep him on his routine, trying to make it easier for him to make the transition, but all my worries were put to rest the first and second night of our vacation. He slept all night long and took good long naps when needed.
We woke every morning to this smiling face! We knew he was getting a good nights rest if we woke to him saying "Dada". Aunt Bette graciously lent us her room and Cutter slept in his pack-n-play at the foot of our bed. He would wake, stand up and look at us with his big grin as if saying "OK Mom and Dad time to get up and eat some grub.".
The whole time we were visiting Aunt Bette, Cutter would so casually walk over to this table, stand there and look out the window. Then he would inch his hand over to her nicely decorated fall candleholder and look at me until I told him "no". He listened, but would try over and over again, hoping that one time I might just let him touch it. It must have been so enticing to him, but he would follow the rules and not touch it!
Cutter found this footstool a lot of fun. Over the week we were there he must have pushed it around the living room at least 100 times. By the end of the week, he realized that once he ran it into the couch he had to get on the other side to go another direction. That's my boy, problem solving already!!


Cutter was very interested in the piano. The night before at our first family gathering of the week, Warren (Lauren's husband) played a nice rendition of Charlie Brown. Cutter was mesmerized! He sat and listened the whole time. We got quite a few nice songs played while we were there. But the best song played was when we put Cutter at the piano and let him go to town. He loved it and had a blast listening to himself play. I have always told Greg that Cutter may want to play the piano instead of playing ball and we agreed while we were on vacation that it would be just grand if he did want to play. We would totally support him if that is what he chooses to do. We hope that he is as talented as our "Canadian" family.

Aunt Bette has taught most of her grandchildren how to play. I joked that I would be sending Cutter up to see her once a year and the only thing they would be doing during his visit would be learning how to play. Or at least she thinks I was joking!

Before we left for our afternoon out to the craft show and Daddy to the golf course, we took some pictures outside in the beautiful weather we were having.
Also, Dave and his clan were going back to Moosejaw. We were so sad to see them go. Audra was such a great play date for Cutter. She has lots of patience and enjoyed play with him as much as he enjoyed playing with her. Dave really took a liking to Cutter as well, although that is not hard to do. I know Dave enjoyed seeing Cutter smiling face early in the morning. We didn't get to see much of Burke, with his cousin and friends just down the street in such a small town, once he got up Saturday morning we didn't see him again until Sunday when they were leaving. We felt so very lucky to be blessed with their presence for 3 days and are so glad they made the drive down to see us. We didn't get a chance to see Mary Kay; we sure did miss her!

Burke, Dave, Audra, Cutter, Mommy, Greg and Grandma Mac
While the girls went shopping and the boys went golfing, the grandma's went to the casino. On the way to the casino, Aunt Bette stopped and picked up Jackie. Jackie is my grandfather's cousin's wife and they often would visit Texas in their retirement years. Kip and Jackie came to Texas so often that have vivid memories of having dinner, laughing and telling stories from when I was younger. Kip passed away shortly after my grandfather in 2005 and since then Jackie's health has started to decline. Jackie has Alzheimer's and although she acted like she knew whom we were, we were almost positive she didn't. That's OK though, I am glad I got a chance to see her again. I don't remember not seeing this smile on Jackie's face! What a wonderful lady to have known.
Aunt Bette, Jackie and Grandma