Oh heeeeyyyy!
A couple things:
Anders is coming home in 3 days. He's been struggling a lot emotionally, more than is normal or acceptable. He knows Denmark is the mission for him. He loves his mission president, loves the people, loves the food, loves his ward, etc. etc., but he has bouts of depression that can't be solved with external factors. We let Pres. Mattsson, the mission president, know that we thought he needed some help. That set the wheels in motion. He talked with a counselor, and a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist said he has ADHD, and his depression is a symptom of that. He needs to come home so we can figure out a plan with medicine that will help him. His mission president is amazing in all the ways- the perfect guy for Anders. He's funny, he's direct, he's lenient, he loves his missionaries like crazy. He told Anders that if he doesn't come back to the mission, he'll hunt him down and kill him. 😂 We're hoping he's home for one transfer, but it could be 2. We'll see!
In other news, at the beginning of February, we were all jonesing for a trip to Disneyland. None of us understand why this keeps happening to us. We keep going back, and we get so excited about it. Then we go and we have all the fun, but we're so exhausted and feel like we're going to die and vow to never return.
At this point, we recognize the pattern, and we figure we can just plan on an annual trip and we are accepting that reality. We all sat down together to sync our calendars, and found 6 days where no one had anything pressing. It was the following week, so we made it happen.
We CRACKED the Disneyland code! We figured it out this trip and did ALL the things, without the crazy crowds. It was awesome and we feel like we won! It was pretty cold the whole time we were there, and we went the weekend/week before President's Day, so we avoided that insanity. We bought the Lightning Lane passes, which is another way Disney squeezes you dry... but it was totally worth it. We hardly waited in any lines and it was fabulous.
Unbeknownst to us, the hotel I booked was about 2 miles away from Disneyland. We didn't realize that until we got there, since there are 2 hotels by the same name on the same road, and ours was the far away one. I was so bummed. We like to stay close to the park so we can walk there and not have to deal with parking. Wellllll, Anaheim has a bus that picks up close to all the hotels, and drops you off at the park entrance. When you're done for the day/night, it picks you up right at the entrance, and drops you off at your hotel. We absolutely loved it.
We ate all the treats, rode every ride, some multiple times. Space Mountain is our absolute favorite, and we were able to ride it 3 times! We also took advantage of single rider lines as much as possible- that's the best part of having older kids at Disneyland! We were able to ride the Cars ride 2 times in a row that way. We are becoming such Disneyland nerds. It's like a challenge/mission to conquer the park and do all the things.
On our first day, my energy tank totally ran out. Around 6:00 pm, I felt like I couldn't do one more thing or take one more step. I've been exhausted at Disneyland before and felt depleted, but this was another level. I needed to eat! I ate dinner and within 15 minutes I was good to go again. It was so weird. I don't know how people don't eat and can still function. Katrina need food!
Driving through Victorville on our way there, and the sunset was 👌.
Gotta make our droids!
After we had planned this trip, Nils was invited to go to YouTube headquarters the day we were scheduled to drive home. He has been part of a beta program with them, and they wanted to have him and others go there to talk and answer questions about their experience with it. SO, he flew out early early from LAX on Wednesday morning to San Francisco, spent the day at YouTube, and flew back home on Thursday.
We went to JCW's with Doug and Sandi on Saturday, and the kid at the register typed my name as Kachena, so that's what they're calling me now.
