Welcome to Our New Arrival

As of today, we adopted a new member to our family, a 2006 Nissan Murano. We are still looking for a name for him or her. We did not get to bring her today. We are going back tomorrow to fill out paper work and then we will get to bring her home.

As by my last post, we were researching Santa Fe's and Muranos. I came to the realization that if I got a Santa Fe I would be happy but only because of the price versus a Murano. So after making a trip to Smithfield (about 45 minutes away) to see a Santa Fe, I realized what I really want was a Murano. So I really worked hard to find a black Murano. There was one that I really liked but when I checked it out on the owners website it was already sold. So I saw another one in Smithfield and asked Billy to go look at it with me. I had already test driven Muranos and I knew how they felt. So we really went to go see how the Murano looked.

When we got there I really liked it. We test drove it and then it came time to talk price. I am so proud of Billy and I. We were really nervous about talking price with the guy. Before we went in to talk with him, Billy and I talked about what we wanted to pay for it. I said no more 15, 500. The car was listed for 16, 988. His first offer was about 15,700 before the extra fees and he asked us what we were looking at. I said 14.5 to 15. So he looked at what he could do. He called the owner of the shop and came up with 15.9 before the extra fees. I suggested to Billy that we wait and talk about it. The sales guy said hold on and see what he could do. I suggested 15, 7 AFTER fees, which would be about 14.9 before. He suggested 16 after fees which would be 15.2 before fees, but he had to call the owner again to see if that was ok. The owner came back and said that is fine. We said yes and the car was ours. The place actually had already closed so we decided to come back tomorrow and finish up the paperwork.

Planning Ahead

So Billy and I have come to the realization that we will need a four door car in the future. (Not any time soon though.) So while both of us are working we are looking into getting a new car. Here are some of the choices we are looking at:

First one up, Nissan Murano:
This is the pricer of the two. So we are looking the 2005/2006 models to get. I really like this one. I especially like it in black. We will probably get cloth seats because this brings down the cost on the vehicle. It is actually what is called a crossover. A crossover as definied by Wikipedia is, "a marketing term for a vehicle that derives from a car platform while borrowing features from a traditional Sport Utility Vehicle. (SUV)." Nissian Murano actually uses the Nissan Altima's car platform. So it is not necessarily a SUV.
Here are some stats we are looking for in a Nissian Murano:


Mileage 40,000-50,000
Body Style Sport Utility
Exterior Color Black
Engine v6, 3.5L
Transmission Continuously Variable Automatic
Gas Mileage 17 city/23 highway/19 combined


Next up, Hyundai Santa Fe:

The Santa Fe is a little cheaper vehicle than the Murano so we are looking at getting maybe a 2007 or 2008. I like the Santa Fe but it is definitely a vehicle that is more basic. It is also a crossover. I would like to get this car in black as well. This vehicle is not as popular as the Murano so finding the right color has been a challenge for us. Billy has told me to branch out and look at other colors, which is what we are going to have to do . Here are some stats we are looking for in a Hyundai Santa Fe.


Mileage 20,000-40,000
Body Style Sport Utility
Exterior Color Black
Engine v6, 3.3L
Transmission Automatic
Gas Mileage 17 city/24 highway/20 combined



There is no rush on our end. We are just looking for now. But if we find something for a good deal we will get it.

The Real Ones are In

The "long" wait is over. (It really hasn't been that long hence the quotation marks.) Our wedding pictures have arrived from our photographer, Dave Dutchess (my future-brother-in-law). They are awesome. I would love to post them all but there are way to many to post. I will just post a few that I like and I will let you go see the rest at Dave's website.

This was Dave's first wedding and I think he did an amazing job. Jessica, my sister, would tell me how nervous he was to do our wedding only because he wanted them to come out perfectly. There are several I love, there are several I like, and a few where I am too critical of myself. =) I can't wait to get some developed and have them hanging in our apartment.

Along with the picture CD, Dave and Jessica sent us a gift. A neat looking picture frame with this drawing of us kissing in it. I will have to post a picture of the picture frame and where it now sits in our home. It is one of my favorites!!!! As you can tell another one of our wedding pictures that Dave did is now our Blog picture. I would have to say this one is my all-time favorite out of all of them.

Here are a few of my favorites.

AJ's face in this one, cracks me up.

My mom and her parents

The moment I started to cry

A good picture of us both

The head table

My mom and I

Getting ready the day of

Dave took some pictures of Billy's car for him. This is the one I liked the best.

Billy and his mom

Billy and his guys



Just a neat picture



Some of my girls and I





Check out the rest of Dave's pictures at his website. Click the picture below and it will take you there.