Looks like I will need a new dress...and maybe a new bathing suit!

I have some pretty exciting news to share!

First here are some pics of the birthday gifts from my loving boys:

This is from Jude. It is full of trains, bionicle parts, socks from the laundry bin, and marbles. 

and he has wrapped them in a Christmas bag. 

Here are the contents of the bag:

When I woke up, this was on the counter for me from Rob. 

Inside the bag were four silkscreens that Rob and Jasper made. 

and then Rob put out bowls and cereal for the kids to get their breakfast:)

Jai made me a card with coupons inside. The coupons are for a free massage, read an extra chapter, do the dishes, movie night, make the snacks all day etc.. I bawled my eyes out!

So here is the BIG news! It's pretty colossal, at least for us it is. So I will tell you the story from the beginning. Last year, at exactly this time last year, Rob announced to our family that we were getting married! He had a date, sometime in August this year. We looked at one venue, which we loved, but is just not in our budget. A wedding can be pricey, and for a family of five living off of one income, saving for a wedding is a bit overwhelming. We put our plans on the back burner, on the lowest of low temps, and thought nothing of it.

Then one day we were at my parents house, and I was flipping thorough a Canadian Living magazine, when I noticed there was a contest for a destination wedding. On a whim I decided we should enter. I filled out the online form, then Rob decided the picture I chose wasn't great and he wanted to take a new one. He ended up filling out the application form and using the exact same picture. A couple of months later we get a phone call letting us know we are in the top five finalists!!! We were blown away, and then I read Rob's application and realized why we were in the top five. Here is what he wrote: 

When I tossed my girlfriend a box with an engagement ring in it I realized instantly I should have put more thought into the proposal. She looked at me with such confusion it made me forget entirely what I intended to do. She was weeks away from our first son being born and I wanted to make things legit I wanted our family to be as strong and solid as possible. This mediocre engagement took place six years and three sons ago. I want my wife to feel like a princess not just a mom and have a dream wedding.

 I cried, of course. We had to make a video submission and send it in within a week. It took us a few days to get over the excitement so we could even focus on making a video. What the heck were we going to make a video about anyways? Well we finally pulled it together, and thank goodness Rob is tech savvy and figured out how to put the video together and he did all the editing...actually he pretty much did it all. He's pretty fantastic! The video does not want to be shared at the moment, I have made several attempts to share it, and it's not working. But hopefully I will be able to share it with you all soon!

Well today, on my birthday (April 12th), I received a call from the judges of the contest to inform me that we WON!!! Is that not the best?! We are over the moon, and in total shock! This is just the best thing ever, and I can't even function right now, because I'm just so darn excited!

So it looks like I can begin my search for the perfect dress and maybe a new bathing suit!!