Are You Serious??

Nate has been in Lake Tahoe, CA since Sunday. His work hold this "celebration" every summer. The whole idea is to reward the guys for all their long hours and hard work by paying for them to take a 'vacation' (but they don't have to use any of their paid time off) to Tahoe and play! You can play go golfing, boating, white water rafting, 4-wheeling, and this list goes on and on. Yes, everything is paid for...food, activities, etc.

It is a time where they get to meet people from other regions (about 5-10 people from each state Discount Tire is in), play, hang out, etc. Nate has never been invited to go before, so he was thrilled when he was asked to go this year. I however, was a little bummed (more like jealous) but so excited for him. He works so hard and seriously the longest hours of anyone that I know.

Now to the good stuff. Every year at Tahoe they give away free trips to Hawaii (any of the islands). Being the dreamers that we are, we hoped and prayed that Nate would be one of the lucky recipients!

Night 1 - they give away approx. 50 trips...no such luck.
Night 2 - give away another 50 trips...no such luck.
Night 3 (and last night) - give away 50 more trips...LUCK!!!

Yes, people...Nate won a 5-night, all expenses paid trip to Hawaii!!!! I couldn't believe it! And to be honest, I still can't! Nate texted me last night to give me the good news (he thought I may be asleep) and our conversation went something like this:

Nate: We are going to Hawaii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Me: No way
Nate: Way!
Me: I don't believe you!!
Nate: (sends picture of the certificate)
Me: Are you messing with me?? I need to know NOW!
Nate: No. I'm serious.
Me: Then why aren't you calling me?
Nate: I will soon, they are still drawing names
Me: I can't tell if you are being for real...

Yes, people...I could hardly believe it. Maybe it's cause it was 12:30am or maybe because I am naturally a "glass half empty" type of person (hey, I don't want to get my hopes up for no reason!).

We can't believe it. We feel so blessed. Lately I have really been struggling with feeling like "the world is out to get us" I am reminded how truly blessed we are.

We are going to Italy in September, Nate works for a great company (as do I), we own a home (wait, is that good or bad...), and now we can look forward to a trip to the Hawaiian island of Kauai in 2011!! We saved and saved for our trip to Italy and we really assumed that would be our last vacation for a long while (since we really want to buckle down and pay off our car). Soooo, thanks God! Now if only Nate would be promoted to a Store Manager...okay I'll try not to push our luck! ;-)

We are picking Kauai because we both love that island. I went there a couple times with my parents growing up and then Nate and I went their for our honeymoon. It is beautiful and it is actually called the 'Garden Island.' It has the best of both worlds...mountains and beaches. Ahhhhh. We will be staying on the North Shore - our favorite. I can see it now...the Napali Coast Line. Hanalei Bay, Kee Beach....ahhhhh...here are some pictures for you...in case you were curious...

Amazing...right? CAN. NOT. WAIT.

Update:
I forgot to mention some cute details Nate told me after.

Nate had a few minutes before the trip giveaway began, so he ran back to his condo and put on his Hawaii swim trunks (that we got in Kauai - on our honeymoon) for 'good luck.' So, he runs back and the giveaway begins.

About halfway through the giveaway Nate really has to go pee (and once he has to go...he can hardly hold it), the catch is...if they call your name and you're not there, you don't get the trip. So, he waits for a random break in the giveaway...sprints to the beach and pees (yep, classy)...and then runs back.

Literally, 2 minutes later his name was called! Whew! Close call! Then Nate was so excited when his name was called he said he couldn't run up to the stage fast enough and in all of the excitement he tripped (but didn't completely fall) on the first step. Ha!

I wish I could have seen his face when his name was called. Priceless.