A new car!

Today, I got a new car for the first time in 10.5 years!! I learned to drive in a '98 Camry, and when I was a senior in high school, my parents bought me a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. I drove that car through college, through apartments, through an engagement trekking between Waco and Dallas, a wedding, 2 houses and 119,000+ miles. It was a great car that lasted much longer than anyone thought it would. It had started to become a lot more unreliable and expensive to maintain, and we'd been trying to find a new car for a few months.

A Connell family friend owns a Chevy/Buick/GMC dealership in Mexia (45 minutes northeast of Waco), so we set out for a visit this morning. I drove 3 cars, and decided a 2012 Chevy Equinox was the best value, style and feel. We committed to it, they fixed it up for me, and we drove it off the lot! From start to finish took about 3 hours, but it was very relaxing and nice to go through it with someone we know and trust. (Shoutout, Brett Beene!)

We traded in my Jeep and Chance's truck, which still had some equity in it. That meant no money down whatsoever, making the process even easier! Like I said before, sweet Nanny is going to let Chance drive her sedan so that we can continue to have just 1 car payment. Both our new and new-to-us cars have great gas mileage and reliability. I was kind of sad to say goodbye to the Jeep and all its memories, but I also got really excited to think about what we'll experience with the Equinox. Sweet Pea will ride home from the hospital in the back; we may even have 2 carseats in the back at some point! :)

Buying a car is a very adult thing to do, and it's not tons of fun to spend money on it each month, but we're really excited for a fresh start and peace of mind. Hopefully this one won't have to last for 10.5 more years, but that it will give us lots of life.

 Goodbye, Jeep... Thanks for the memories!

Hello, Equinox! You sure are pretty.