Overflowing with Gratitude

So...I thought that yesterday was just a big workday here at Peggy's. Much to my and Eric's surprise however, it was much much more! I should have been suspicious when Karen put out the tablecloths and everyone arrived with tons of delicious food. I honestly just thought that we were all just trying to make it a fun workday! First Marita walks in with a chocolate cake, then Pat Lokatos with a lemon cake, then Maria Rose with a spice cake! And still, it was all just over our heads that you all were planning a surprise for me and Eric!

Marita was acting a bit weird in the morning and Karen wouldn't let me sort things in Peggy's room, but still I totally fell for it when Karen told me that Marita was just working on some surprise for her daughter or something and that she didn't want us in there until she was done. I even started grumbling to Karen and Kelly about how "over surprises" I am! You see, Peggy was OBSESSED with surprises...after 8 years of Peggy's surprises, you get kind of burned out on them...especially when it's like, "Surprise! I bought 3 full body penguin suits on eBay!" or "Surprise! I bought $400 worth of party supplies on Oriental Trading Company!" or "Surprise! I need Eric to build a puppet storage system by tomorrow!"

But, I retract everything I said about surprises - now, I LOVE THEM!!! We all sat down to eat in Peggy's room and Marita stood up to make an announcement - then she gave Eric and I the most amazing news ever - that the Peg's Legs have been planning a surprise gift for me and Eric - a second honeymoon at The Four Seasons Hualalai on the Big Island! Even as I'm writing this, I still can't believe it! I am so overwhelmed and so excited and so blown away by all of your love, generosity, thoughtfulness...and super sneakiness!

You see, as a wedding gift to us in 2002, Peggy and a bunch of friends arranged for us to go to Hualai for our honeymoon. It was the most amazing gift and we had the best time! It was the perfect way to start our marriage...I know that trip and the fun we had gave us the emotional energy and strength to get through the next 6 years. Ever since our stay at Hualalai, we've fantasized about returning...it is as if you all read our minds!

So when you all surprised us yesterday with this wonderful gift, of course I cried! And thank you, Kelly, for taking so many unflattering photos of my blubbering. Thanks also to Kelly for making me a "surprise ball" in the shape of a heart! It was filled with sexy goodies to go with us on our trip. Marita also presented us with champagne glasses, champagne, a sexy nightie, and a special outfit for Eric (you'll have to ask those there what he got!)...and it was all packed in Peggy's leopard print roll-y suitcase...the one that I'm sure we already gave to Marita for Christmas...the re-gifting continues! You know that's not the last you've seen of the roll-y suitcase, Marita!

Thank you all of you for this gift, I can't say that enough. And thank you to my mom and dad for agreeing to watch the kids when we go, since of course that was the first call that had to be made when you all came up with this fabulous idea! This will be our first trip away from the kids...it will be good for them...and for us! Of course, they LOVE Grandma and Papa's house and we're going to shoot for a weekday trip so that they are busy with school for most of the day. We're working with my mom on setting a date for our trip, looking at sometime in March...we'll keep everyone posted! We are so excited!!!

Well, believe it or not, we actually did get a lot accomplished in addition to our partying! We filled Tiare Finney's truck bed and she did a dump run for us! We went through at least 10 bins of paperwork and even found a few more signed originals including one of Siamese cat (it was folded in half at the bottom of a bin of old paperwork and watercolor scraps!).

We also began organizing the photos...we are doing away with Peggy's binder system (sorry, Peg) since it just takes up too much space. She has tons of binders with those clear inserts with photos on pasted on paper and then she labeled the binder with something like "1970". But many of the binders only have a few photos, so we are taking all of the inserts out of the binder and stacking them in piles chronologically (40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, etc.) and then we'll box them up to deal with with them later. Really, they should be scanned...that will be a fun project. Luckily, we have a lot of negatives and you can take those to Costco and they'll digitize the images...then we can see what photos we have and what we can toss once they are digitized.

OK, well, that is it for now. I am going to go and sort more today. We really are making progress and it is so fun to go through all this stuff. It is like treasure-hunting! We'll shoot for another workday next Wednesday. We are planning to do a big art & yard sale Feb 21 and Feb 22, so mark your calendars!

Thanks again you all...Eric and I just can't express enough how loved and blessed we feel. Thinking about going back to Hualalai after these last 6 years is so cool...talk about a full circle moment...it is just so poetic and beautiful...I'm going to start my blubbering again...Have a great day everyone and enjoy these photos from yesterday!