B+C+B+C+B+C: New ride

Saturday, February 13, 2010

New ride

It's not stylish, sexy, nor extremely fuel efficient... but it's reliable, comfortable, and practical!
We have entered minivan world. A friend told me, "welcome to the next 20 years of your life."
Brianna was probably the most excited about it - as you can see from her first meeting with the newest member of our family. We've named her Kia Sedona. So creative, I know.

Brianna went squirrel-crazy inside. She kept climbing over everything and jumping around, smiling and squealing. I had to wrestle her into her car seat.... which is SO MUCH EASIER now that it's higher up! I will NOT miss having to duck into our little Honda into the middle row to get her buckled. But I did feel safer having her in the middle verses now having her on the side. Oh well. I guess she'll have to sit in the back when we have the babies, so they can be up front. Or have one baby in the back middle, since that's the safest spot. But how would we choose which baby? Whichever one is behaving better gets the safer carseat location?
Notice bottom right photo - Brian folding the back seat down completely. Yeah, we could fit a room full of boxes in this mommyvan. Life just got awesomer.
We bought it from Enterprise and got a pretty good deal. A little below the "blue book" price. It was nice knowing it would be in perfect mechanical order and has been well maintained. This vehicle was actually in Brian's fleet for a long time here in Cedar - so he knows for sure that it always got routine maintenance done on time and never had any smokers or pets in it. There are some "bells and whistles" features I'm really enjoying. In fact, I can't think of any features it didn't include. A few people raise their brows at the brand Kia, but from everything I've read, the Koreans have come a long way in car manufacturing. This model had the highest safety ratings for 2008.
The hardest part about this transition was saying goodbye to our Honda. Not for sentimental reasons - I don't believe in developing emotional attachments to pieces of metal - but just cleaning it out.

It took a really long time to get it decent enough that we weren't too embarrassed to trade it in. It's amazing how much stuff we can collect in a vehicle after 6 years of use together. 8 for Brian, actually. It's the car he drove all the way from SLC to Phoenix in while we were dating so he could take me back to Utah and try to convince me that the state had a little more to it than just jello and modest clothing stores. I wasn't convinced and did another semester in Hawaii. But that Honda picked me up at the airport when I finally gave in and joined him in the beehive state.
We traded it in at 175,000 miles but probably could've put another 100K on it. I was very happy to get blue book value. I'll miss the fuel efficiency - but there's just no way we could've fit 3 kiddos in the back. And I hated having to try and fit our skis in there. So - adios Honda. I'm glad we get to remain a one-car family.

ps - if anyone is interested in buying a car from Enterprise, let Brian refer you. He gets a little bonus.

7 comments:

Becky said...: I can't wait to enter the minivan world! Just for the ROOM!!! It will probably be a couple more pregnancies for us though, before that purchase is dealed and sealed.; February 16, 2010 at 7:07 AM
Unknown said...: Ohh a minivan! You really are adults now! We are going to try and buy a car from a rental company this summer when we sell France's Honda, its a stick shift and I don't want to put in the time it takes to be proficient with one. Its lame to have two cars when I can only drive one of them!!!; February 16, 2010 at 7:29 AM
DeAnne said...: yay! I am really glad to hear that you got a KIA Sedona. Just the other day a friend here was talking about how they are getting a honda odyssey. EVERYbody has one of those. I jokingly said that when I enter the minivan world I am going to get something really sweet like a KIA. So, you like it? How do the prices compare to other vans like the Honda and such???? We probably really need a minivan, but we love our way non-fuel efficient JEEP.; February 16, 2010 at 8:03 AM
Unknown said...: I can't believe that you are going from a little honda to a minivan, but I am still kind of in denial about the twins thing too!
I love having a bigger car. It seems to make me feel safer. {Not that it makes me drive any better, because it doesn't!}
I also like having a kid in the middle seat. I like knowing that is the safest seat in the house. But like Brianna, that is going to have to change soon here too!; February 16, 2010 at 3:04 PM
summer said...: yeah for you! I remember when we got our mini-van...Madeleine was probably about Brianna's age...we weren't even expecting #2, but we were so tired of getting her in and out of the backseat of the little sports car that Bryson had brought into the marriage. I loved that mini-van...actually I still love it and of all the things I look forward to on my trips back to SL, at the top will be to drive again and have the room again. Enjoy it - ski trips, babies, family vacations, mommy day trips....you are going to love that van more than you probably know!; February 16, 2010 at 7:21 PM
Debbie said...: I think you will have a hard time finding your car in the church parking lot!; February 17, 2010 at 9:38 PM
Unknown said...: I heart my minivan and really really love not bending over to buckle the kiddos. Congrats!; February 19, 2010 at 7:18 PM

Quotes I want to remember

"The Lord knows our bearing capacity, both as to coping and to comprehending, and He will not give us more to bear than we can manage at the moment, though to us it may seem otherwise. Just as no temptations will come to us from which we cannot escape or which we cannot bear, we will not be given more trials than we can sustain."
- Neal A. Maxwell

"It is a fundamental truth that the responsibilities of motherhood cannot be successfully delegated. No, not to day-care centers, not to schools, not to nurseries, not to babysitters. We become enamored with men's theories such as the idea of preschool training outside the home for young children. Not only does this put added pressure on the budget, but it places young children in an environment away from mother's influence."
-Ezra Taft Benson

“Perhaps there has never been a time when we had greater need to pray and to teach our family members to pray. Prayer is a defense against temptation. It is through earnest and heartfelt prayer that we can receive the needed blessings and the support required to make our way in this sometimes difficult and challenging journey we call mortality.”
-Thomas S. Monson

“Live the gospel as conspicuously as you can. Keep the covenants your children know you have made. And bear your testimony! Don’t just assume your children will somehow get the drift of your beliefs on their own.
-Jeffrey R. Holland

"We hold in our arms the rising generation. They come to this earth with important responsibilities and great spiritual capacities. We cannot be casual in how we prepare them. Our challenge as parents and teachers is not to create a spiritual core in their souls but rather to fan the flame of their spiritual core already aglow with the fire of their premortal faith."
-Neil L. Andersen

"Certainly there are times when getting the family together to read the scriptures does not stack up as a spiritual experience worthy of a journal entry. But we must not be deterred. There are special times when the spirit of a son or daughter is just right and the power of these great scriptures goes down into their heart like fire. As we honor our Heavenly Father in our homes, He will honor our efforts."
-Neil L. Andersen

President Hinckley admonished both men and women to be nurturers. He said, ‘How much more beautiful would be the society in which we live if every father . . . and . . . mother regarded [their] children . . . as gifts from the God of heaven . . . and brought them up with true affection in the wisdom and admonition of the Lord.’ ”
-Susan W. Tanner

"Children are like trees. When they are young, their lives can be shaped and directed, usually with ever so little effort. Said the writer of Proverbs, 'Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it' (22:6). That training finds its roots in the home. There will be little of help from other sources. Do not depend on government to help in this darkening situation. Barbara Bush, wife of former U.S. president George Bush, spoke wisely: 'Your success as a family, our success as society, depends not on what happens at the White House, but on what happens inside your house.' "
-Gordon B. Hinckley

“I give counsel to husbands and wives. Pray for the love which allows you to see the good in your companion. Pray for the love that makes weaknesses and mistakes seem small. Pray for the love to make your companion’s joy your own. Pray for the love to want to lessen the load and soften the sorrows of your companion.”
-Henry B. Eyring

“Reverent behavior is not a natural tendency for most children. It is a quality that is taught by parents and leaders through example and training. But remember, if reverence is rooted in love, so is the teaching of it. Harshness in our training begets resentment, not reverence.”
-Margaret S. Lifferth

"There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else."
- M. Russell Ballard

“As parents, we should remember that our lives may be the book from the family library which the children most treasure. Are our examples worthy of emulation? Do we live in such a way that a son or a daughter may say, ‘I want to follow my dad,’ or ‘I want to be like my mother’?”
-Thomas S. Monson

“Security for our families comes from learning self-control, avoiding the excesses of this world, and being temperate in all things.”
-Kent D. Watson

Saturday, February 13, 2010

New ride

7 comments:

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