Our recent trip originating in Boston and including Phoenix, Chicago, and Wausau with accompanying pictures and commentary

I was trying to go for the longest title possible.

We went on a little trip last month. It started off with a bang with our flight being cancelled, but Preston sweet (?) talked the airline into putting us on a flight with a different airline (nonstop!), so we only got in a few hours later than anticipated.

Thank goodness for animation. And thumbs.

The kids loved Arizona. It was warm! Approaching hot, actually, and we spent plenty of time outside.

The Gilbert temple was nice. It has an agave plant theme, which I thought was interesting.

 Andrew especially liked the water features.

 His favorite part of Memee's house was walking around the backyard and transferring rocks from one location to another. He was in heaven. 

He spent so much time wandering around that naps came easy, especially in Memee's bed.

 We also went to Amazing Jake's, which had some fun rides for the kids, including this "TRUCK!"

 Lauren made the height limit on most of the rides and Carl was more than happy to ride with her. She really liked the bumper cars.

After a few days in Mesa, we boarded another plane and flew to Chicago, where the kids and I parted ways with Preston and headed up to Kronenwetter,

where we grilled out and ate on the deck every day.

Just kidding. 

 What we actually did was go to Walmart, watch the Olympics and Nickelodeon, play Little People, and reorganize Grandpa's tractors. I got Dad hooked on sporcle.com, then had to help him identify and spell all the countries of Asia. I made some Cupboard Project recipes and Lauren went a whole day with no pants on.

Now we are back to our normal routine, which means Lauren is burning through paper making lists and cutting it into tiny pieces that she then tapes together and Andrew is walking backwards saying "beep, beep, beep," and watching the toilet flush while waving and saying "bye poo poo!"