It's amazing how time flies!!!
Brian's last day at Cerner is today...I think the nerves have finally set in with him and there's been a little more tension in the house.
The packers are here today putting EVERYTHING in boxes. Since we won't have access to this stuff for 5 weeks, we had to set aside anything we might need. There is an entire room of clothes, toys, electronics, etc. that we are hoping will fit into the back of the van...AHHHHH!
Speaking of the van....she needs a name....suggestions?
We still have quite a few errands to run, people to see, and things to do. With 3 whole days left I hope we have enough time. I knew moving would be stressful, but I don't think I realistically prepared myself for this amount. Luckily, I have the most amazing friends who have taken us in, got us food, watched the kiddos, and gave us shoulders to cry on when it came to be too much.
I will post some pictures of the 'organized chaos' that is Chez Relph later on...wish us luck!!
Friday, October 28, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Hotel Reservations!
We just made the hotel reservations...man...this is getting more real by the second! Places soon to follow!
--J
--J
We bought a van!!
It's true...we bit the bullet and bought an '09 Honda Odyssey...AND WE LOVE IT!! It has such a smooth and quiet ride and it was worth the 7 HOURS we spent at Jay Wolfe Honda. Here's how it all went down...
I had been running errands all Monday when Brian called to let me know that he had been emailing different car dealerships with the current inventory they have to start some deals. We decided to get a quick lunch and go see some of the cars in person. Jay Wolfe Honda was the closest and it had multiple vans we were interested in, so we decided to go!
As soon as we pulled into the parking spot, a salesman came out. If you've ever been to a dealership (especially the used car side) this does not surprise you. However, we could not love our sales guy any more! His name is Jeff Jefferson...he is HIGHLY recommended by us! He brought us in to go over his inventory to see which vans in specific we would be willing to purchase and took us out to see some. The first two were definitely misses...too old, too many miles, they just weren't the car for us. So he took us to a line of vans that were a little out of our price range....and we saw the '09. He let us take the car out (by ourselves...SO IMPORTANT) and we went for a drive and got some KFC...we were so hungry!
When we get back we tell Jeff that we are interested in the car...but there has to be a lot of concessions on their part. The car started out at over $30,000...at least $5000 over what we felt we could do. Our biggest deciding factor was the monthly payments, and we had made a goal of $350 but decided we could go $400 with this car because it had EVERYTHING we were looking for.
Negotiations started out rough. Due to the nature of the beast, Jeff had to keep conferring with his boss on what he could offer us. His initial offer coming in had been in the high $500s to high $400s. We told him there is no way we could get anywhere near that number. We decided to fill out a credit report to narrow down our APR. That didn't change things much. Jeff tried everything...$475, $467, $450, $437, etc. We explained to him that $400 was our TOP DOLLAR and if we couldn't get this vehicle for that, we would be willing to walk away. After 4-ish hours Jeff came in with $400.20. We got a great deal on our trade ins (yep, we sold both!) and they dropped the price substantially.
The car was a great deal. It has brand new tires, has the Honda Certification...we feel so blessed to have made this work! We had to wait a little bit to finish with the financing....in which our APR went down 1.5% so we could get an extended warranty for only $9 a month. I'm telling you....EVERYONE at Jay Wolfe Honda was absolutely amazing!! If we were staying here they would be the only ones I would shop with. They listened, worked with us, and went out of their way to get us what we needed (and then some!!)
Did I mention they took the trades without even LOOKING at Brian's Civic? I love this company!!!
So, needless to say, Monday was a whirlwind.
Tuesday wasn't any slower. Since we made the decision to go down to one car, we drive Brian to and from work everyday. The kids love it...they love to watch movies in the van :). After we dropped Brian off, we went home, cleaned a little, and had a great playdate with the Vinsons! We even braved bringing 2 adults and 4 toddlers to Salty Iguana!
The afternoon was filled with lots of errands. Maps from WalMart, coloring books and crayons from Deals, a gift for our FANTASTIC preschool teacher, Megan Puppe, and then picking Brian up from work!
Tonight we had a lot of cleaning and organizing to do...just two more days and the movers will be here to start packing things up...lots of things to do!
Tomorrow I will be traveling to Topeka with Lyda and the kiddos to see Jess and Rylan!
We also finally have a place to live (for 30 days) in California! If you'd like to see where we are living...go to this link:
http://www.rental-living.com/communities/The-Redwoods/Video/?click=true
We are living in Plan E!!
Off to do more chores....
I had been running errands all Monday when Brian called to let me know that he had been emailing different car dealerships with the current inventory they have to start some deals. We decided to get a quick lunch and go see some of the cars in person. Jay Wolfe Honda was the closest and it had multiple vans we were interested in, so we decided to go!
As soon as we pulled into the parking spot, a salesman came out. If you've ever been to a dealership (especially the used car side) this does not surprise you. However, we could not love our sales guy any more! His name is Jeff Jefferson...he is HIGHLY recommended by us! He brought us in to go over his inventory to see which vans in specific we would be willing to purchase and took us out to see some. The first two were definitely misses...too old, too many miles, they just weren't the car for us. So he took us to a line of vans that were a little out of our price range....and we saw the '09. He let us take the car out (by ourselves...SO IMPORTANT) and we went for a drive and got some KFC...we were so hungry!
When we get back we tell Jeff that we are interested in the car...but there has to be a lot of concessions on their part. The car started out at over $30,000...at least $5000 over what we felt we could do. Our biggest deciding factor was the monthly payments, and we had made a goal of $350 but decided we could go $400 with this car because it had EVERYTHING we were looking for.
Negotiations started out rough. Due to the nature of the beast, Jeff had to keep conferring with his boss on what he could offer us. His initial offer coming in had been in the high $500s to high $400s. We told him there is no way we could get anywhere near that number. We decided to fill out a credit report to narrow down our APR. That didn't change things much. Jeff tried everything...$475, $467, $450, $437, etc. We explained to him that $400 was our TOP DOLLAR and if we couldn't get this vehicle for that, we would be willing to walk away. After 4-ish hours Jeff came in with $400.20. We got a great deal on our trade ins (yep, we sold both!) and they dropped the price substantially.
The car was a great deal. It has brand new tires, has the Honda Certification...we feel so blessed to have made this work! We had to wait a little bit to finish with the financing....in which our APR went down 1.5% so we could get an extended warranty for only $9 a month. I'm telling you....EVERYONE at Jay Wolfe Honda was absolutely amazing!! If we were staying here they would be the only ones I would shop with. They listened, worked with us, and went out of their way to get us what we needed (and then some!!)
Did I mention they took the trades without even LOOKING at Brian's Civic? I love this company!!!
So, needless to say, Monday was a whirlwind.
Tuesday wasn't any slower. Since we made the decision to go down to one car, we drive Brian to and from work everyday. The kids love it...they love to watch movies in the van :). After we dropped Brian off, we went home, cleaned a little, and had a great playdate with the Vinsons! We even braved bringing 2 adults and 4 toddlers to Salty Iguana!
The afternoon was filled with lots of errands. Maps from WalMart, coloring books and crayons from Deals, a gift for our FANTASTIC preschool teacher, Megan Puppe, and then picking Brian up from work!
Tonight we had a lot of cleaning and organizing to do...just two more days and the movers will be here to start packing things up...lots of things to do!
Tomorrow I will be traveling to Topeka with Lyda and the kiddos to see Jess and Rylan!
We also finally have a place to live (for 30 days) in California! If you'd like to see where we are living...go to this link:
http://www.rental-living.com/communities/The-Redwoods/Video/?click=true
We are living in Plan E!!
Off to do more chores....
Monday, October 24, 2011
The Start of our Adventure!
Hi Friends and Family!!
We have decided to start a blog of our adventures moving out to California, starting at Google, and all that entails! We hope you will enjoy following our journey into the West Coast and beyond!
Love,
Brian, Jen, Myah, Elijah, and Vera
We have decided to start a blog of our adventures moving out to California, starting at Google, and all that entails! We hope you will enjoy following our journey into the West Coast and beyond!
Love,
Brian, Jen, Myah, Elijah, and Vera
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