Swallowing Our Pride (Gulp!)

So I have always said I would never own a minivan. I think they are great for those who own them, I even think some minivans look kind of cool (like the 2007 Nissan Quest!). But they weren't for me, and I researched every SUV and crossover I could find. I had my heart set on the new Mazda CX-9 - it was exactly what our family needed, right? Well, not exactly. You see, Bryan and I are not financial wizards - we do our best - but we had no idea what car payments would be like. We test drove some vans and looked at some SUV's, but the prices were so high that I almost threw up when the dealership presented us with monthly car payments that rival our mortgage payment! (Maybe we could live in our car? I actually proposed this question to Bryan. You see how delirious I was?) We finally stopped at a Dodge dealership on a whim, and the guy tried to sell us a white minivan that is the long lost twin of Brent and Stina's minivan. We declined, mostly because Bryan already has a white truck (we didn't want a theme going on) and I didn't want to be in Utah and always confused about which car is mine. But we did find a blue-green 07 Dodge Grand Caravan that fit our needs (and our budget). The car belonged to a leasing company, and so it was well taken car of and had only freeway miles on it. It has tons of cargo space and the stow-and-go seating. It also has pretty good gas mileage and drives like my Focus did, not like a boat like I thought it would. We both really like it and are mostly relieved to have found something big enough for our growing family. We tried really hard to fit three carseats in the back of the Focus, but it was really cramped and probably not safe, so what do you do? You buck up and buy a minivan! So you all have a little while to imagine Bryan driving a minivan (except Lindsay, who couldn't imagine it - she can have an actual real life image :) !) Bryan and I will someday have our dream car, but for now we have a car that fits our needs and our family, just maybe not the image Bryan hoped to portray. (P.S. You can still be super manly and drive a minivan! It takes a man with lots of confidence to do so, right Brent?) Oh, and we traded in the Focus, which was really sad. I actually cried on the way home from the dealership knowing I wouldn't see it again. How pathetic, right? So if you see a red Focus driving down your street, honk at it for me!