New Car Thursday!

That was one of the first things Dave said to me when we woke up this morning, we were both so excited!

So we sold my truck a couple months ago and decided we would try it a while with just one car, lots of couples do it.  The only problem is that Dave's truck is a stick shift and I'm not confident driving it on my own on these windy, hilly streets.  We do pretty much everything together, so we weren't worried.  My father-in-law, who's an experienced used car shopper was keeping an eye out for us, and every once in a while I'd check online just in case there was some amazing deal that we couldn't pass up.  Well I found one!

I like to plan, so I was looking for a compact car that would last a long time and could carry a growing family (not an announcement, just planning ahead)  After some research we decided on a Camry.  I was looking for a newer model with around 30,000 miles and a great deal.

I found one that was a decent price so I called and he said that he already had a buyer set up.  Well, he ended up calling me back and said that they buyer fell through and he was anxious to sell, so he dropped it $1,000 for me.  (He's moving to South Korea, where he used to live for 30 years and has three cars to sell in a couple weeks) Then, I found out that there was some discoloration on the bumper that I didn't know about so I talked to him about it and he had an estimate of $1100 for the repairs, so he dropped it an additional $1100 for us.  I was a little skeptical about getting it repaired and scared about it maybe being more expensive, so we took it out to a little auto body shop and they offered me the same repairs for $600.  I was so excited!  It's a 2011 Camry LE with 32,000 miles, still under it's factory warranty, and we got it for a really really good price, several thousand under it's blue book value after I replaced the bumper. The car runs great and it still has the new car smell.  I love it already!  Plus, the owner had bought a year car wash pass, so we have six months of free car washes :) 

 

We feel so blessed to find such a great car that was even less than we were expecting to pay.  We can't wait to take a road trip in it :)

Farmers Towing

This past week we got to try out the services that Dave sells every day.  We went to a nearby town to take a test drive before buying our lovely new Camry.  We were excited about the car and decided we were going to meet up on Thursday and buy it.  On our way back I was calling our parents, telling them about the great car that we just found and we heard a big boom.  Dave's tire had blown out.  When we made the 20+ hour drive here to Texas, we discovered that Dave's spare tire was gone, it must've fell off somewhere because it wasn't under his truck. So, we pulled over on the side of the road and called our insurance, Farmers (good thing Dave put towing on our policy).  It took almost an hour since we were inbetween cities.  Of course it was around 4 in the afternoon and over 100 degrees.  I was scared to just sit in the car with all the big trucks zooming past us so luckily there was a little warehouse about a quarter mile away that we walked to.  They let us come in and sit on some comfy chairs in the air condition and gave us water.  They were very nice and accommodating.  We called around to find the cheapest tire store and it was easily within our free tow limits :) We approve of Farmers towing!

Turns out the rod that holds the back two tires in place was broken, so the other tire was also completely barren on the inside and ready to pop any second.  So we replaced the two tires and still need to get that rod fixed.  A quick trip out for a test drive turned into an entire afternoon affair.  I'm even more excited to get a new car now.

Elder Thomas

My cousin got his mission call here to San Antonio.  I had no idea if I'd ever even get to see him, but turns out his first area was in our ward.  It was so fun to see him every week at church, go out and teach with him and to have him over for dinner.  I'm happy we both have the Texas mission experience that we can share at family reunions in the future. It was really cool to see the growth in him, even in just a few months.  He's getting transferred this week, and we'll miss him! 

Watermelon

Dave and I love watermelon, a lot!!!  We've been getting one every other week for the past few months and we're loving it.  Even though it's ridiculously hot, eating watermelon makes me love the summer months.

 We try to pick out the heaviest watermelon in the bunch.  Last week Dave picked out a great one with hardly any rind.

If we're not careful, we'll eat the whole thing in one sitting.  So I usually have to divide them up into three different portions.

YUM!

Date Night

Dave and I planned a great date night last Friday.  We went out to Red Robin and shared an order of my favorite mozzarella sticks and my favorite teriyaki chicken sandwich.  Growing up, we had a lot of Family Night dinners at Red Robin because we loved the cheese sticks!

I got some great discounted movie tickets through Groupon that were about to expire, so we decided to go see Captain America.  I popped up a bag of my favorite kettle corn and we each picked out a few treats at the store.  We had to make a rule that we couldn't start eating the popcorn until the movie started, which was torture sitting through all those previews!

The Many Faces of our Living Room

We have a nice apartment and all, but I was getting a little tired of it. We got a great deal and definitely the cheapest price around.  There's only so much you can do with 700 sq ft and no budget though.  So on Saturday we spend the day re-arranging.  Anything we hadn't used in the last 13 months had to go. 



A few days after moving in



A month in, many furniture donations later



Last Saturday before cleaning




The new look

I feel refreshed, which is good because we just renewed our contract here.

In Loving Memory of Chuck

So Dave and I have been throwing the idea of getting rid of one of our trucks and getting a more fuel efficient vehicle.  Mine is in great condition so we looked into selling his because although it runs great, it's falling apart.  We realized we wouldn't get enough out of it to get another decent car, and the goal is to save money, not spend more money.  So I finally gave in to just seeing what we could get for mine. 

   We realized that we could sell my truck, get a newer used Toyota and still have some cash left over.  I took it into the dealership and was greatly disappointed with the offer that they gave me.  So I agreed to list it on some free sites to see if anybody would even be interested (I think I only agreed to it after I got on auto trader and saw that there were about 27 other Ford F-150's around the same year on there, so I thought the odds of it even getting considered would be slim to none).  We got a few Spam calls and kinda just forgot about it.

    Last weekend somebody called and wanted to look at it.  He sounded pretty interested so we met him and let him take it for a test drive.  He was looking for a truck for his son who just turned 16.  That was Saturday, on Monday he called and said he wanted the truck, he just wanted to take it to a mechanic first.  So on Tuesday we met him at an auto shop and the mechanic had nothing but great things to say about it.  He called that afternoon and said he could meet us at his bank in a couple hours to buy Chuck.  I couldn't believe it, it all happened so fast!

   Everything went so smooth.  First of all, we sold it for $6,000 more than what that crazy Ford dealership man offered me. (I'm still debating calling him and letting him know) Also, after we officially handed over the truck, the guy asked me if I wouldn't mind moving the truck over to a different parking lot where his wife would be meeting him to drive it home.  I was honored that he trusted me enough to let me and sooo happy to have one last drive with him.  Chuck was such a great truck and has been through so many big things with me.  I really hope that they take really good care of him! 

So we're a one car family now, let the car shopping begin!

Girls Camp

This year I went to Girl's Camp with my Young Women. 

I was never one of those girls that enjoyed girls camp when I went, back in the day.  It's five days of girls wearing funny outfits, doing wacky hair styles, putting on crazy make-up, dancing, cheering, and singing loud, nonsensical songs; six things that I've never enjoyed doing. 

But I put on my tie-dye shirt and my good attitude and went.

All my YW, ready to go.  We went to a camp on the Blanco River just an hour North of us. The coolest part was the Blue Hole, a little lagoon that has this huge water slide (top right of the picture). Sadly, since we're in a drought the water was not flowing and pretty nasty, so the slide was closed.  It was still beautiful to look at.  Thankfully, they had a nice pool that I got to go in every day to keep cool, cause it was HOT!

      I was a cabin mom for the best little group of 1st years.  They were so cute and fun. They were always helping in the kitchen and including others, I loved all of them!
     As a cabin mom I didn't have that many responsibilities but after the first night I learned why.  A few sick and dehydrated girls meant getting up in the early morning hours and not much sleep, so luckily I got to fit in a few naps during my off hours. 

I did find some time in the afternoon to work on the craft.  It was just so cute I had to do it, it's a little recipe holder!  So I have some work to do still, I need to fill it with recipes.  But when I finally finish it, it's gonna look great! We already have no counter or cupboard space in our little kitchen, but I'm sure I can find some room for it. 

Although I did get cell service and I talked to or texted Dave whenever I had a spare moment alone, I really really missed him!

The only thing not horrible about leaving behind my husband is the wonderful welcome home surprises I get.  He's so wonderful :)