87 West: A trip full of happy places.

This past December, our parents stuck tickets to Disneyland in envelopes, handed them to us, and had us all open them at the same time. {Okay, I knew what was going on because my parents and I had to plan this trip around my school schedule, but none of my siblings knew.} The resulting reactions were pretty awesome. And with that, it was official. In February we would be spending 4 whole days in the happiest place on Earth {Well, actually that place is Yellowstone, but Disneyland is pretty darn close} before driving up to Las Vegas to attend our cousin Dani's wedding in a different, but very real kind of happiest place, the Las Vegas LDS temple.

Flash forward to February 26th. After a very stressful afternoon starting with a call at 4pm from Southwest Airlines telling me that my 7:10 flight was delayed to the point that it would miss my connection, and that I wouldn't get to California unless I got my butt to the airport by 5 o'clock for a different flight, I finally landed in Orange County at 11pm, feeling like my heart was going to explode with happiness after running into my daddy's arms. Repeat that feeling when I was reunited with my brother, whose flight came a bit after mine, and then with my family at the hotel an hour later. So much HAPPINESS!

And then, for the next four days, we partied.

{Waiting for Adventureland to open after spending our Magic Hour on Space Mountain and Small World. We got nervous sideways glances from other guests as we whispered our family strategy to get to Indiana Jones first: "Remember, V-formation guys! Show no mercy. Mow 'em down if you have to. Ready, break!"}