Last February a few weeks before President's day the family at home was planning on going to Disneyland, and that was pretty much the best thing I could have heard. 1. I love Disneyland 2. I had just gotten back from serving in LA so I was pumped about the idea of possibly being able to visit members! It wasn't going to be that plausible for the clan here in Provo to leave for the weekend, but just days before Natalie and I decided to throw all caution to the wind and go! We drove to Las Vegas Thursday night and woke up early Friday morning to meet them at the park. The little sisters, Gabrielle and Marie, had no clue we were going to meet them there so that just made the anticipation of going to Disneyland even bigger. When we got to the hotel and started walking to the park we began conspiring with Mom for how we were going to surprise them. Here was the game plan we came up with:
Step 1 Little sisters wait in line to take a picture with Mickey
Step 2 Older sisters wait in line a little further back and try not get seen by them(we thought for sure they had seen us)
Step 3 Little sisters take a picture with Mickey
Step 4 Older sisters photobomb the picture then hide
Step 5 Mom show little sisters picture and point out what is in the background;)
Step 6 SURPRISE!!!
I dubbed the rest of the next two days my second childhood. I am happy to report that I still find just as much joy from running to Indiana Jones first thing in the morning as when I was 10.
The second highlight of the week was spending Sunday racing from Hollywood to Bell Gardens to Artesia trying to fit as much into the day as possible. I was so excited to see everyone, but I wasn't quite prepared for the experience I had. What took me by surprise was the overwhelming feeling of love when I saw the members and when they saw me. It's not like I stopped loving them when I came home, but it was just different. I couldn't see or hug them every week. When I came back I was slammed with love for those people that I worked so hard for and I had no clue how much feeling their love for me would impact me. I was craving that enormous amount of love so much! I mean really do you actually have 100+ people at college running up to hug you and say hi every week? Odds are that you don't, unless you are the friendliest person in the world.
There are so many more people that I love that have influenced my life in LA, but it would probably be a little obnoxious to post the millions of pictures that we took with people that weekend. I am so incredibly grateful that I was able to stop by and say hi to everyone on such short notice. It's October now which means I should be due for another visit!
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