in memory of...

our dear ford.

This was the car Matt bought right after he came home from his mission.  It was the one and only car we had for the first three years of our marriage.  When we think of the good memories we had with this car, it seems like a great car.  It was actually pretty good.  Maybe not excellent, but pretty stinkin' good.  When we lived in Provo, after we were married, there was something that always needed to be fixed with this poor car.  For a while we went every 9 months on the mark where something would go out or break.  If it wasn't a strut or belt, it was always something like a very important screw that had broken in the steering column.  The steering wheel was nearly falling off.  When it got really cold outside the doors wouldn't latch shut.  I'd be ready for work, in the parking space slamming the door over and over hoping it would latch eventually.  Or it would be something like the ignition locking so the key wouldn't even turn.  Or the gas cap blowing off on the freeway up to Idaho.  I wonder if we could still find that... hmm...  And you might remember this incident...a day that will live in infamy.  More recently, the back windows wouldn't roll up, or down for that matter.  The AZ heat fried the little gears that keep the window up.  But don't get us wrong, we enjoyed this car.  We drove it up to Idaho numerous times, we drove it to California on our honeymoon and a few times after that.  We drove it down here to AZ when we found our house.  Good times.

But...it started giving us trouble.  Serious trouble.  Like dying on the freeway trouble.  Then it was just one thing after another, and we were sick of putting money into a car that was probably almost at the end of its life anyway.  So we bid our dear Ford a sad farewell, and sold it to someone in our ward.  He's a mechanic and seemed really excited to have it for his family.  He was sure he could fix it up and make it run really well, and we let him run with that.  So, goodbye Ford.  We must all move on, I guess.

So... then we moved on and got something a little bigger.  And with a little more gusto than the Ford.  We are anticipating this one to last us for a really long time.  

Isn't she a beaut?  This is a 2008 Nissan Pathfinder.  We love it.  We found it in Scottsdale and it has really low miles and was a very agreeable price.  The best thing about it is it isn't too big, but actually has seating for 7!  Not like we need it, though.  : )  The Nissan isn't any longer than our Camry, so it's not like we're driving a bus, which is nice.  The very back 3rd row is pretty small and somewhat squishy if you are a grown person, but we have it folded down most of the time and then we have a decent amount of storage.  It was great, though, when my family was here because we could all ride in the same car.  Nice.