The Holiday Train in Shoal Lake!

What a great time we all had at the Holiday Train!  

Libby got to see Santa!

The train was beautifully lit!

Doc Walker was AMAZING!

My favorite song was 'A Beautiful Life'.

I almost cried, feeling so blessed to be a part of such an amazing community of 

people!  There were so many that came out, even though it was sooooo COLD,

and it was only 8:45 a.m.!  I am impressed!

Seth had a great time with his class!

Hadley, Libby, and I stayed warm,

dancing up a storm!

This beautiful little face sums up all the fun we had!

Halloween!

What a great halloween we had!  There was a black cat, a gypsy princess, Cindy Lou Who, and a bag of popcorn!  Ryan chose not to dress up for school and then when he did dress up he did not want his picture taken!  I guess that is par for the course for an almost 13 year old!  The kids went out and collected a ton of candy!   We have some of the most generous and friendly neighbors!

Happy Halloween!

So Thankful!

We thoroughly enjoyed hosting thanksgiving this year!  This is the first Thanksgiving we have spent with my family in over 10 years....  We were missing a few members of the family.  Ryan, Jordan, and their significant others Kelly and Kat.  Having my Grandparents for turkey dinner was awesome!  Much time was spent laughing and sharing memories together.  Then the karaoke came out and all the nieces and nephews were dancing around....  simply beautiful....

                               

(technically not the best photo, but I love this one!)

Out in the Community

Today there was a children's festival in the park!  It was a great opportunity to get out and meet some of the other community kids and their families.  We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  There were bouncy castles, face painting, crafts, and many fun little games.  I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked, due to the long line up for face painting...I asked if I could help and then joined in the fun!  A great day was had by all and we are all looking forward to next years event!

Day at the Beach

So, July has not been incredibly warm out here like we expected....  The kids are tired of just playing around the house, so we headed to the beach!  It was a little chilly but they were more than happy to play around in the water and get warm.  We were only there for about an hour an a half, but fun was had by all!

Now that July is over and we have started to settle in nicely in our new community, I figured it is time to get on with this blog!  We have had a great time so far!  On July 1, a day after we moved in the town of Shoal Lake put on a fireworks show for Canada Day.  The fireworks were shot off of the bridge, on the lake in front of our house.  How great to watch such a beautiful thing right from my driveway.  No traffic to worry about, just the thrill of the fireworks!  For a girl who has been in the city for the past 16 years, this was absolutely remarkable.  Granted the show may not have been as glorious as the Stampede or Global Fest fireworks, however, the ease in just walking to the front of my driveway made up for it all, and to be honest it was a much better show than I expected!

The second week of July brought on the Shoal Lake Ag Fair and parade, which also made it's way to the fair grounds via the road in front of our house!  No fighting for a spot in downtown Calgary!  So far this town is my dream!  Two of my all time favorite events, fireworks and parades, right in my own front yard, AMAZING!  The day after the Shoal Lake parade, the kids and I were asked to join in on the Hamiota parade for our church.  Of course we jumped at the chance to be in the parade and meet some of our church families.  We had a great time!  

We were there bright and early...kids were still waking up!

As the sun warmed us up and the parade 

got going the smiles returned 

to their faces.

The picture does not do justice 

to the real size of this tractor!

It is HUGE!

Kiddos playing on the gator that pulled the float.  

First time being in a combine!

This girl loves her TOMs.

Shoal Lake volunteer Fire Department

The kids all had fun on the inflatables and 

in the petting zoo at the fair.

Sam and Ryan working out some tension in a friendly

boxing match in our front yard.

Even Nelson has settled in...

We did pick up a couple of new friends

for him.  Meet Leo,

and Milo!

I love heart shaped rocks and have collected

many over the years.  Our driveway is full of them!

I had to tell the kids to leave them in the driveway 

as my collection is getting quite large now.

It has been wonderful to have our extended family around.  

The kids are loving hanging out with their cousins! 

Truly a blessing to us!

In and amongst all the fun we have been having,

it is also very peaceful and relaxing.

Someone has definitely been smiling down on us

as we begin this new adventure!  All I can say is THANK YOU!

Thank you

Thank you

Thank you...........