Two Car Family

Before we were engaged, in September 2001 Mike and I bought a car together. I still remember the athletic trainer rubbing out my calves after a hard WSU track workout and saying, "What?! You did what?? You shouldn't be buying cars together without a ring on your finger."  I felt perplexed. A car spoke of infinitely more commitment to me than a ring: 1. It was more expensive 2. It got me places 3. We could use it as a place to make out 4. It was ours, together.

I did eventually get my ring when Mike proposed at Weber State on December 1, 2001, but while I love the ring, I haven't had to stop using the car because my fingers retain water during pregnancy.

For almost nine years now we've had our little Chevy Prizm. Besides regular maintenance like oil and tires and gas, we have only had one "major" $200 repair. I love this car.  It has taken us on many adventures (we've put 150,000 miles on it) and has been a great car for our little family. It's been the only car for our little family.

After one summer when we lived in an isolated apartment in the middle of fields and I almost went crazy hanging out all day with cows and a two-year-old Kenzie, Mike began using public transit and riding his bike to work so I could have the car. (And that's when the voices went away.)  Both of us (Mike more than I) have made sacrifices and worked hard to make a one car situation work. With just one car we were together. We worked situations out that would have been much easier with two cars, but turned out better because we were with each other and sacrificing for each other.  Yes, sometimes it's been frustrating, but we've talked about it and both of us feel like the one car situation has been good for us. 

So, our recent purchase of a second car makes me a little teary eyed (yes, I know. I'm pregnant. I'm always teary-eyed). When I tried to smash another car seat in the backseat of the Prizm and found that the doors wouldn't really shut, we began our search. At first we wanted a nice car, a new car, a Honda Pilot. Then we had some sort of Dave Ramsey Awakening and we decided just to find something cheap that we could all fit in to just get us by until we have paid off our student loans.

Introducing our new "Swagger Wagon" (this video link makes me snort laughter): 

While it's not as cool as a Sienna, it's paid for, and we're hoping it'll take us on plenty of adventures in the next couple years.