RIP Corolla, hello Odyssey

A few weeks we got rear ended while waiting at a stop light and then got pushed into the people in front of us. Gosh, being in an accident is such a crazy and fast experience. It just happens. You have no idea what's happening, it just does and you roll with the punches until it's over.

I've been so grateful for a peace of mind during the whole situation. We were all buckled properly in our respective seats. Our car was was registered properly and licenses were up to date. We have great auto insurance (more importantly the person who caused the accident is insured wonderfully). All our ducks were in a row. There were no "I wish we had…" in this situation. The Lord was truly watching over us and all those times we ask in our prayers to be safe and watched over we were even through an accident

I then was suggested to go to the hospital by my doctor and get checked out to make sure the babies were both ok and all was still well with the pregnancy. Yet again, a peace of mind knowing we are all safe and looked after and cared for by insurances is truly a priceless thing.

Less than  week later we found out our beloved Toyota Corolla was totaled :( so many mixed emotions when we heard the news.

That was the car we dated in, our first experience together I asked him for a ride from one end of campus back to my dorm at BYU. The first talks of marriage happened in that car. So many make out sessions, ha. It was "our" car even though it was originally Casey's. We've lived in Utah, California, Indiana, New Jersey and Nebraska in that car. Countless road trip across the country including Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, New York, Iowa, Kansas. It's been through WAY more states than just those though. We drove completely across the country probably 4-5 times in that car. We brought Maxson home form the hospital in it. Learning how to use baby seats in it, so many crumbs in the back because of that cute little rascal. So many amazing memories in just our first car and now it's gone.

That car was so good to us, 209,000 miles and no problems ever, just normal maintenance. We're both sure it could have lasted us at least another 100,000 miles because Casey took such a good care of it. 

When we learned we were having twins we debated for months on what to do about our car situation. We knew a mini van was an absolute must (that was always in the plans for after graduation but now we had to bump it up a few years) but now suddenly all was changed. We were wanting to get through dental school with one car, and one car only, there was absolutely no need for a 2nd car but we didn't feel great about giving up our little car. We figured we'd get so much more use out of it over all the next years than we could possibly sell it for.  We had come to a conclusion, we weren't going to sell it and it would see us through so many more years. 

But then the accident. Our emotions were everywhere. Was it totaled? Was it worth fixing and keeping? Should we keep it? If it is totaled will the insurance company even give us a fair value for a car? So many conversations. Oh and the accident happened like 4 days before we were leaving for Nauvoo and we were only going to have 1 day between Nauvoo and traveling west for 4 more weeks. Awful timing.

We learned it was totaled and at the same time learned of the amount the insurance would give us and we were OVER THE MOON. We would have never been able to sell it for that price but that number was what the Corolla was worth to us and helped us exponentially when buying a new car.

As we went back to the auto shop to clean our car out we both felt very melancholy during the whole ordeal. It was like cleaning out a locker from high school: so many great memories, knowing you'd never come back to it and it will never be the same. So many great times yet all good things must come to an end. I couldn't believe how sad it was leaving that Toyota Corolla behind!!!!

But onward we had to go. We cut our trip to Nauvoo short by a day so we could car shop 2 days instead of 1 in Lincoln. We were disappointed at the selection we found in Lincoln and thought maybe we'd find something in Wyoming, Utah, or Arizona.

After another 4 or 5 days of car shopping, countless (exhausting) hours visiting dealerships and then talking through all our options over and over we settled on a car that would work well for us at a decent price point. 

So we are thrilled to introduce the newest member of our family:
the 2011 Honda Odyssey! 

It has lots of room to grow, will be perfect with twins and Maxson and  young family. I foresee lots more road trips in its future

PS- I NEVER WANT TO GO CAR SHOPPING AGAIN. I would rather go swim suit shopping, now that is saying something!