Where one door closes, another one opens!

This week was pretty crazy! Mike had to go on a business trip to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. That morning two hours before he was supposed to leave to catch his flight, he was involved in a car accident. He was on a 2 lane highway, going 60 mph (the speed limit was 55) and some crazy lady didn't think he was going fast enough. She plowed right into the back of him, pushed his car out of the way and kept on driving! He swerved off of the highway and came to a stop and assessed the damage. He called the police and they came to help out. Apparently there is a traffic camera right there, so they think they caught the lady on tape and will be able to get her license number! (I sure hope so!) Somehow he was able to get the car towed, get things worked out with State Farm, rent a car, and get back home in time to catch the taxi to the airport. What a crazy morning.!So, to make a long story short, the insurance company declared our car totaled and we had to say good-bye to dear Old Blue. I'm just so glad that Michael wasn't injured at all in the accident, and we figure that it was really a blessing in disguise because it seemed like our car was needing something else fixed on it every month! It lived a good life, though. It had almost 150,000 miles on it. Whitney gave it a hug good-bye and it brought tears to my eyes. That was the car that we drove away from the temple in when we got married, it took us to Salt Lake City for our honeymoon, it hit a deer, and it brought both of our kids home from the hospital when they were born. It's funny how you grow attached to your cars, almost like a pet. Anyway, we now have a new addition to the family, Black Beauty!

It's a Chevy Venture and we got a heck of a deal on it, and were able to use the $3,600 from Old Blue as a down payment. It is the Warner Brothers edition, so it has leather seats, a DVD player with wireless headphones and all kinds of other fun little knick-knacks. The doors automatically open with the push of a button, it has a back-up sensor so I won't accidentally back into anything, and all of the seats come out if we need to transport something big (like this white dresser I've been eyeballing for the kids room since Aaron's broke). It doesn't feel like a minivan inside, it looks more like a theater with all of the leather bucket seats. I always vowed that I would never get a minivan, but I can definitely settle with this one! It will be great for those 16 hour drives back home to Colorado, better on gas mileage, and for when family comes out to visit-we'll actually have room for everyone! We're pretty excited about it. (As if you can't tell! I sound like a car salesman!)