I'm In Love With a Minivan

Isn't it interesting how attached we become to the cars we drive? We spend so much time in them, it's no surprise that so many memories follow. My very first car was a red Ford Tempo, which I bought from my dad's nice German friend, Peter, for a measley $500. I was a Junior in high school I think. Ohh the memories of driving to school with my fuzzy black and silver steering wheel cover and fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror, blasting the radio and singing along with my best bud Sommer. Then when I went off to BYU, we put it on a trailer and hooked it up to the family van, but the poor van just couldn't pull it. It kept stalling and took us over a day to get out of PA, thus earning this journey the title: The Road Trip From Hell. So finally we took my car off and I drove it the rest of the way across the country, and it survived like a champ! Took me through 3 years of college, and then finally died while I was on my mission. Bless that little car.

My next car was the beloved Buick LeSabre, which my dad bought from our 80 year old neighbor in PA and then drove out to UT later. That thing has been a good companion for many years...driving me around BYU, from Centerville into Emigration Canyon every day for my internship, and into mine and Jake's marriage. Until one day when he had pity on me and switched cars, allowing me to drive this cute white Honda Accord, which he had bought from his dad. (Aren't Dad's the best??) So despite the fully cracked windshield, peeling paint, lack of defroster, heater and air conditioner, and well over 200,000 miles on it, the Buick has lasted a long time. Jake upgraded by buying his dad's Toyota Avalon, which made me happy that he didn't have to drive around in a "junker" anymore. Unfortunately, the Buick decided to die over this summer while Mom was driving it, and currently resides in front of our house, waiting to be taken away. Goodbye, old friend.

I love the Honda Accord. Jake took me on our first date in it, and pretty much all the subsequent dates after that. We've driven numerous road trips in it, brought Cami home from the hospital, and drove her around in it until last week when it was time to say goodbye! It has over 182,000 miles on it, so Jake figured that now would be a good time to sell it and make room for a new member of the family: a minivan. We figured we could drive it until the end of its life and make the small space work with 2 kids, or we could sell it before it had too many more miles, and jump right into the big family wagon. So he put it up for sale on KSL a few weeks ago, and we waited for someone to call. In the meantime, we started seriously looking at minivans. He'd been looking on KSL for like a year now, kind of just for fun, but always looked at what Toyotas, Hondas, and Kia's were available out there. We finally visited some dealerships the other week and got to test drive some new and used vans, and got a feel for what we liked and wanted. Luckily, someone called just at the right time and bought the dear Honda. I spent a few minutes in it by myself that morning, to say my goodbyes. :) What a good little car, we miss you.

But yay for new beginnings, because I love our new minivan! We found this red (maroon) 2010 Kia Sedona at a little dealership out near the airport, and loved it right off the bat. Only 30,000 miles on it, clean, new looking, and at an awesome price. We couldn't turn it down!

 She sparkles! Am I a nerd or what? Who ever thought I'd be so excited about a minivan, but it really has been so nice to drive since we bought it a week and a half ago. We brought it home the same day the Honda sold, so that was a huge blessing.

 Henry Clay Dealership...if you're looking for a van, check em out! Super nice, trustworthy people, nice office, good experience.

 Cami loves it! Every time we open the sliding door, she jumps in and runs to the back seat like a little game. If we're in a hurry, I make sure to catch her before she can dash back there.

 There's 2 captain chairs, and then a bench in the back that folds down flat if we need it. And a nice deep trunk space. I'm excited to take our first road trip in it after the baby comes! Cam loves being up so high and seeing everything out the windows.

 Here's my domain (or Jake's when we're all together). I love it, and I love the console in between the 2 front seats that has a tray and 4 cup holders, and then there's like 4 more cup holders around the front. We're good to go!

 And the dealership even installed a DVD player in it, which we haven't used yet, but I'm sure Cami will love on trips. Just a nice little bonus.

So now that we've joined the club, I doubt we'll ever drive anything else through our child raising years! Weird. It was a fun experience, though, looking for and buying our very first vehicle together, like real grown-ups. :)