The newest member of our family...

My little Sentra is old. Not that old, but it definitely was acting that way. Usually when the temperature drops into snow season the Sentra would act up, like it wouldn't start very well or wouldn't start at all unless you pumped the gas, which I found was an art form I suck at. I would end up flooding the engine so it wouldn't start ever again (or until Adam came home). Well, a couple weeks ago when I was on my way to a ward activity in Kirtland, my car started an attitude with me. It died on me while I was on the brake, and then started revving really high when I was in park, plus it seemed to be dragging- and it was in the mid 50s! No snow yet! Now, normally, living on a budget, I would just deal with it, but since Olivia is in preschool and I have things to do during the day (like doctor appointments, grocery shopping, and my bi-weekly visit to Target), Adam and I decided that we needed a new car soon, before the snow came.

We started asking around to find the best options for our budget and decided on a couple different minivans that we liked. We figured we might as well upgrade our car to a minivan, so when we do decide to expand our family, we aren't shopping for another car again. Adam and I visited a couple of dealerships and searched online, where we ended up "looking" one night in North Olmstead. And, doing what Adam and I do best, our "looking" turned into "buying". Not that this was an impluse buy, which is another thing Adam and I do best. We knew what we wanted, what we could afford, and what we were getting ourselves into. We just hadn't really expected to fall in love with a car so soon (romantic, isn't it?). The winner? A 2003 Honda Odyssey, with leather seats, heated front seats, automatic door openers that open with a button on my dashboard and on my keychain remote (which is nice when I'm juggling Jack, Olivia's backpack, my purse, and a Diet Dr. Pepper in the rain), and a DVD player (which sadly wasn't working so it's being fixed as we speak).

As a teenager I never thought I would be a "minivan mom" at the age of 27, but looking at how my life is evolving, I am proud of myself. It shows that I am a mother, for one (hopefully most people that drive minivans have kids! No offense if you drive one and don't have kids, though!), and that I can drive a big car. My family always makes fun of me, since I have never driven anything bigger than a tin can, I mean an old Mazda 323 and my Nissan Sentra. Now I can drive a minivan the size of a bus (not really, but it feels like it). I'm not quite sure I feel like this minivan is mine yet. I haven't put anything in it, like my car organizer or my "Case School of Dental Medicine" sticker, but that will come in time. I still love the car and am excited to finally have a car that I am not embarrassed to admit that I have!

Olivia is so excited to have a new car. She tells people "I have a new car!" all the time.