Goodbye trusty van!

Over the summer as we traveled, squished in our van, loaded to the ceiling, now with a 40 pound dog in tow, we started discussing a bigger car. Our kids are growing, our dog comes with us a lot and we are finding that we need more space to take the trips we want to take. Chad started looking online. i wanted a bigger car, but didn't want a car payment! We haven't had one for a while. Chad found the one he was interested in and mentioned to a friend he was looking. A few hours passed and that same friend, Mason, called him and he explained that they were looking into buying a van because their family is growing. 

One of our biggest worries was getting out of our van what we needed to to make our payments affordable. They were willing to pay what we would have got for a trade in. I couldn't believe we were facing buying a car so soon! Who ever calls you and asks if they can buy your car before you're even selling it!  We took a day and went and checked a few out. I loved an ivory suburban but the sellers wouldn't budge on the price. They didn't seem very motivated to sell. 

We drove a red one that had all the cool bells and whistles but I didn't love the color. It was nice and had low miles. Chad wanted it. I was open to it. The salesman got under my skin and we decided it wasn't right. We went home and thought some more on it. We went ahead and sold Mason the van. Within a few days we had cash in hand. 

Here we are enjoying the massage chairs and free soda in the sunshine while they worked out a deal.

I frantically cleaned out spaces I'd never even opened before! kids are gross. 

I loved this van and was so sad to see it go! So many people have told me they recognize my van because of the stickers on the back. I had to scrape those off. Sad day!

One last hug! It was easier to let it go knowing it was going to carry our friends cutest kids and give them a good deal on a car that was great. 

 The dealers tried to force us into buying the red sub...i don't tolerate that at all. As we thought about it and looked some more, we realized this one was probably our best bet. We went back and bought the car on our terms, when we were ready. 

We got it home and kind of panicked after finding some cosmetic things that they said they'd fix but made worse. We called and tried to return it! They said we couldn't. I was upset for a bit...until I drove it. It drives like a dream, has heated everything, so much space and as I spent some more time with it, i grew to really like it. We decided to suck it up, fix the cosmetic things that bothered us and go on with life. It's been a good choice for our family and I think we will enjoy it for a long time, even if it is red! HAH!