So we’re drifting slowly down I-5 on our way to check out some dishwashers, okay? Traffic is bad, the sun is baking everything and everyone. (Come to think on it, that might explain this episode.) The wife and I are up front, the kids are on the back-back bench seat. The A/C is cranked.

We approach the Portland temple. Mormon, that is. “Hey, kids, it’s the temple.” No sooner are the words out of my mouth than we pull up alongside a massive tractor-trailer rig. “Oooo, it’s so big and white!” Giggles from the back seat. Silly grin from the driver. “I didn’t know it was so huge, it fills the entire view all the way up to the sky!” Laughter fills the mini-van.

Traffic shifts, and now we’re alongside the tractor instead of the trailer. “Hey, wow, now it’s PURPLE!” More delight. “I wonder what you call a purple temple. The Purple Tabernacle?”

Attempts to say “purple tabernacle” three times fast fail. To be honest, attempts to say it once fail often, and attempts to say it twice simply cause more laughter. As the laughter dies down and Alex sips water to deal with his hiccups, I jot down two words on my Kyocera so I’ll remember to write up a journal entry…

This is how I keep my family amused. The family that laughs together, stays together.