Greetings dear friends and family!

Well, the time has come that you've all been waiting for... for the post that has kept you on the edge of your seat since who knows when, the post that has kept you wondering, "How long is Anna going to last before she cracks?", the post that has just been waiting to be typed by my anxious fingers.....

The post that says, "I'm engaged!!!!!!!!!"

Check it out...

The Couple.

The Family.

The Ring.

So, here's the story.
Corey and I got engaged on Sunday January 28th at about 1:30pm. During the week leading up that, Corey had asked me if we had plans for the Sunday. He told me that Ray (of Ray and Marika) had a "wealthy" aunt and uncle in Gimli and we were all invited for the day for cross country skiing and hot-tubbing. I was super excited about this!


Sunday morning rolled around and we dropped the kids off with my parents. We had been trying to get a hold of Ray and Marika all morning, but they weren't answering their phones. Finally, as we were nearing north Main, Ray calls my cell phone to say that he got called into work and wasn't going to make it out to Gimli. I was trying to be very patient with my good friend Ray, but was on the verge of barking "why didn't you just say NO to work?! Don't you know Corey and I don't get special days like this very often!??!" But instead, I calmly said "Ray, I think you should talk to Corey."


Now, there were a few hints leading up to this day that could have very easily given things away, but I will only mention the one that was the most obvious: After Corey got off the phone with Ray, he turned to me and said "Can you believe that?" And as I'm sure all of you can relate, when you know a person SO well, you know exactly how their face moves when they talk and the intonations they use in their voice, right? Well, for a very split second, a very small but suspicious smirk flashed across Corey's mouth when he asked this question. Enough so that I answered "No.... I can't believe it...." My mind was very busy processing at that moment. However, I did have enough sense to tell myself to ignore it, because regardless of whether or not "something" happened that day, I really wanted to enjoy my day with Corey and not get my hopes up. Plus, after the phone call, Corey did SUCH a good acting job at being all disappointed (he even said "I don't feel like going anymore... let's just go home"), that I was so thrown off track and I actually thought I convinced him to keep going so just the two of us could have a day together! Me: "Oh honey, it's ok... we can still go out and have a fun day together. Come on, we'll find a trail to ski on, we'll get burgers, it'll be nice!" Corey: "Oh, ok... I guess it will still be fun"!


So.. we had a wonderful drive, listening to our favourite Newfie tunes, talking about the future and just life in general. When we reached Gimli Corey asked me if I wanted to go there at all, since we didn't have to meet anybody up there anymore. I told him I didn't care and he said that Hecla Island was just up the road. He thought there was a lighthouse there. Naturally I said "sure!"

At the end of the highway is a little harbour called Gull Harbour. It was here that we parked by some beautiful boats, all snow covered and fast asleep. To our left was the Lighthouse Inn, to the right was a red and white lighthouse, and straight ahead across the bay, was another lighthouse. All was calm and quiet. Corey suggested we ski out to the lighthouse. (It was -40) We tried. My hands froze through my mitts almost instantly, so we had to turn back. When we got back into the car, Corey pulled out the "snack" he packed which I thought was just bread and oil... but really, he had packed cheese and garlic sausage too (my FAVOURITE lunch!) Now, I wasn't super surprised by this because Corey is a very thoughtful guy and he likes to do special things for me, but when he pulled out the red wine, I became very confused. This was bordering on TOO special! We toasted and sipped and then Corey insisted I "dig in". So while I was preparing my little lunch, he says "I really wanted to take you out to that lighthouse, but now that we're in the car, how am I supposed to get down on one knee?" My head snapped up from what I was doing, and there he was, with the open ring box in his hand! My hands immediate flew up to my face, as I was so surprised and excited. Corey actually managed to squish down between the seat and the steering wheel to "get down on one knee" and asked me to marry him! We were both crying as I said "yes" and both of us were shaking when he put the ring on my finger. It was absolutely perfect and special. I will remember it vividly forever.


After the excitement died down a bit, being the keener that I am, I said "Hey- Ray's not REALLY at work today is he???" To which Corey replied, "Anna, Ray doesn't even have and aunt and uncle in Gimli!" So that's it folks, he sure tricked me and now it's official! We are getting married on July 28, 2007. (By the way, if anyone does have a wealthy aunt and uncle in Gimli with a hot tub, let me know, because I was so sad that I didn't get to go hot-tubbing!! Ha ha)


I hope that all of you are well in this cold and colder month... hopefully I'll be running into you all soon :) Much love.


(((We are also having a wedding social on April 13- so book that night off! You can see either one of us for tickets)))