Mini vans and weekend plans!

Okay so here are some random pictures from the last couple weeks. I finally remembered to have someone take a picture of the belly. However, I was having a very lazy day and that day and didn't do my hair, or make up, and I lounged around the house all day in my grungies. Sorry that I don't look quite so fabulous!

So this is me at about 21 weeks. I don't think the picture really does much justice, my belly feels a million times bigger than it looks!!! I think I was a little bigger at this point in my last pregnancy, but that might have something to do with the fact that I weighed 15 lbs. more when I started my last pregnancy than this one. It has definitely helped me this pregnancy to start out in really good shape, but I must say, all my muscle has turned to flubber! Just more motivation to get back in shape in the baby comes!

The last few weeks have been pretty easy going, except the weekends!!! For the last three weekends I have traveled up North for some quick little trips. The first weekend I went up it was just for fun and to hang out with the sistas!!! The second weekend I went up was because I had my ultrasound, I also wanted to see my cute niece perform at the Davis High winterguard competition. Being a past guard girl, I haven't been to a competition since, I don't know, probably 7 years ago. Anyway, it was really fun to see her perform and all the guards in the state as well. Some things have definitely changed but for the most part, it's all pretty much the same!

The last weekend I went up was originally just going to be a day trip with my in-laws to see the Riverdance performance. My mother-in-law wanted to take all the girls and she got us some pretty awesome tickets!!! It was a lot of fun! I actually saw Riverdance in Missouri about 5 years ago, but it was definitely better this time around. Mainly because I was in better company and it was indoors! We were at an outdoor theater in Missouri and it was so hot, humid and muggy!

Anyway, back to my story...my quick day trip turned into a weekend trip when I found a minivan for sale at the last minute and decided that this might possibly be the one for our family! Yes that's right, a minivan!

So ever since I became pregnant last fall I've known that a minivan purchase would be in the near future. For those of you with children, you know very well that three carseats/boosters do not fit in the back seat of a little car. Especially our LITTLE car!!! We have a little Saturn that we have had since we first got married, and let's just say that two carseats fit in the back, and nothing much else! I was hoping we could go one more year before we had to upgrade to a van, but I guess the good Lord had other plans.

I have been searching online for months for just the right van and let's just say that it hasn't been easy. First of all, I was very particular in the make and model of minivan I wanted. Second, we had a very limited budget to spend. Third, I was hoping to get pretty low mileage and a little newer than our current vehicle. Fourth, I live in Richfield, a.k.a. little rural town, 100 miles from any major cities with a lot of used car lots.

When I started looking, I found a few vans that I was interested in, but the miles were just a little too high for me. As months went on I started to get really frustrated that I just wasn't finding what I wanted. I even test drove one van, really liked it, but not very comfortable with the sales guy and the little used dealership. I tried to test drive a few other good prospects and was treated very rudely by the dealers, who apparently weren't interested in selling the vehicles because they wouldn't give me the time of day!!! Their loss!!!!

I was totally ready to just give up my search until I absolutely needed a van (August). Then, I got really bored last Friday afternoon before I was going to be going up North. Rayden was playing at his friend's house and Ryker was napping and the house was pretty quiet. I decided to just check a few different van models that I hadn't really looked at before to see if I could find something. I found one that looked pretty promising, but I still wasn't quite willing to give up the idea that the van I really wanted was out there. So I checked one last time and found a van that someone was selling privately out of Syracuse. It had only been posted online for a few hours and the price was just a little bit out of my range. Secretly hoping they were purposely listing it for higher than they would go, I jumped on it and asked if they would come down a little bit. The guy emailed me back instantly and said yes! Better yet, my sister, who lives in Syracuse, had the day off and stopped by to check it out! She drove it for me and said everything looked good and it drove good. There was a little bit of body damage but not too noticeable.

So, my quick weekend day trip suddenly turned into a long and stressful weekend of buying a vehicle!!! It was only stressful because I was nervous about making a huge financial decision without my husband and I also had a little bit difficult time meeting up with the seller, but that was mainly due to my miss-communication. All in all, it all worked out and I ended up finding the perfect van for our little family! Or should I say, growing family!

Turns out, I also got to see my niece perform one last time at the state championship competition. It was fun to hang with my mom and reminisce on past times in the colorguard! Those were some really great times in High School, probably the only thing that made High School worth going to. Well, that and the boys!! But don't tell my niece that I said that, I keep trying to encourage her to stay away from the boys, they are just immature! LOL!!! I guess of course so was I!

It's nice to have the car situation taken care, my life is a little less stressful now! It will also be good to get back to my church calling that I've almost had a month off from! I spent the day getting my visual aids ready to teach the next song in primary! Wish me luck! Of course I'm going to gone again for a week at the end of the month for some more fun! Easter celebrations, doctor's appointments, and BYU Women's Conference!!!! I'm so excited I just can't wait!!!!! Now, if only it would stop SNOWING!!!!! AHHH!!!!! Oh, one last thing, I cut my hair!!! I thought 6 inches would be pretty drastic since I've had pretty long hair for the last few years. However, no one has seemed to notice the last few days except my really close girlfriends who knew I was going to cut it. I guess going to my shoulders wasn't short enough. Enjoy the pics! Sorry they are a little blurry.