We finally did it...but not the way we were planning on

So a few of you know that Daryl and I have been "talking" about getting a new vehicle for some time now. When I say sometime, I mean for a few years now. We bought our 2000 Accord brand new 8 years ago and it's gotten us through a few good and bad times. We loved that car, but we had really outgrown it, plus, it was really time. A while back we really had our hearts set on a new Suburban or Tahoe, but they were serious gas guzzlers. We had been doing some serious research on them and the '08 models were rated pretty poor for reliability and that just was not going to cut it for us since we tend to keep our vehicles for a while. So on to another vehicle. I have always been in LOVE with the Toyota Sequoia, but they were super pricey for just being a Toyota. Daryl loved the 08 models and we'd started doing our research on yet again another gas guzzler. So for kicks, we checked out the crossovers (i.e., Highlander, Veracruz, Rendezvous...), but had not test driven any. Then on Monday of this week, I decided it was finally going to be the day I was going to paint Tatum's room and then give it a complete makeover. Little did I know Daryl had something already up his sleeve for that day...He gets home and I've got paint on my feet, arms, knees..just about everywhere and he asks if I wanted to go to a few dealerships and test drive just for kicks. Well I wasn't going to pass him up on this since I've been waiting for "this day" for sometime now. Daryl had previously gone to the dealer and set this up with the sales guy and was pretty much planning on me wanting the Sequoia (which he said would have had delivered to us with a big bow on it for my birthday..how awesome is that!). On the drive over he asked me which model I was starting to lean towards and I told him, either the Sequoia, Highlander or Veracruz..but never a minivan (I just wasn't a minivan type of girl). We went over to the Avondale automall and hit up Toyota first. They had all three of my vehicles of choice lined up, so that was easy. But the closest to us was a Sienna (a minivan) and just for kicks I peeked inside. Well that was dumb (or so I thought). It was the top of the line xle Limited edition and was absolutely gorgeous! It was so spacious and just, well gorgeous. I test drove it for kicks and when I turned around it was like a beautiful house on wheels and would be so easy with the kids, but it didn't drive as well as I would have hoped (the limited versions all come standard with AWD and the tires just suck and cause the vehicle to result in a drop in gas mileage and for the drive to not be as great). So then I drove the Highlander and it was much more fun to drive. I turned around to view the back and noticed the lack in space..and then you pop the trunk which you just want to laugh at (why even bother). So on to the Sequoia. We could definitely afford the SR5 and then just add leather to it. To have captains chairs in the middle bumped it up to the Limited (we only wanted one with captains), the price would go up another $10-12k and then you still had to add the features you wanted. I really love the look on the outside, but I just wasn't impressed with the SR5 in the end. I turned around after I got in the drivers seat and it just didn't feel right..spacious, but not as easily accessible as the Sienna for the kids. If money and gas prices weren't an issue and we could put all the fancy upgrades we wanted in, then I probably would have given it a second look, but for now..it just wasn't for us (it did drive really nice though). So then I walked back to the Sienna and Tatum said she wanted that car (pointing to the Sienna). The kids of course loved how they got to press the button and the side doors would automatically slide open and shut for them (safely) and of course loved the dvd player. I just wasn't in love with the color (a poopy purple color). So it was down to having a vehicle where we enjoyed the outside while it was mostly stayed parked in our garage (13/18 mpg) or have a vehicle where we really enjoy the inside much more and we can actually afford to drive (18/23 mpg)..not to mention the 2.9% interest rate on only the Sienna. So then we started to focus our attention on the Sienna and whether or not we should stay in the xle category or drop down to the Le and add a few things. I have always been a fan of the pearl white color and that was the only color I wanted. They said they didn't have any at their dealership, but knew of an xle front wheel drive from Camelback they could send over. So we went home and thought about it, read the consumer report reviews and checked out what the dealer actually paid and knew exactly what they would be able to go down. So then we thought that maybe we could find an xle with a smaller package (no back up sensors, camera, navigation and dvd player and just add the dvd player after market). So we took a break on Tues from the dealership (doing more research) and went back on Wed. Our dealer told us that the Arctic Frost Pearl xle (with not all of the fancy upgrades) had been sold the the previous day (how crappy was that). But there was only one Pearl left in all of Arizona and it was the original one from Camelback and it was the xle fully loaded (which bumped the price a few thousand up). So they pretty much told us we needed to move on it if we wanted it. They were going to offer us top dollar ($5,000) for the trade in or I could try to sell it in two days (yeah right). So Daryl told me to post an ad on craigslist on Tues night (LOVE that site) and I did and with in 10 mins I was getting e-mails about it (I put it in for $7,400 just for kicks). So the following day we had a couple come out and then started to complain about the mileage (they knew that from the ad) and were wanting to pay around $5,200 and take it to their mechanic. So another lady looked at it and loved it and wanted us to take it to her mechanic the following day and if it checked out, deal. The next day called to say it just had too many miles and never mind. So crap! We have this fancy new van sitting in our garage and were planning on that extra money for the down payment to help offset the pricier package we just went with. So I re-posted and added pictures this time and started getting flooded with phone calls from people yesterday. So things were starting to look up again (I dropped the price to $6800 firm). I had one guy who wanted to come out at 2 to possibly buy it, then I had another man who said he had cash and wanted it now (it was 1pm at that time). So I said great! Then a lady called and said she could pay full price after work and then I told her about the man with cash and said if she could go up to $7000 and if he didn't want to go up, then I'd wait for her. Well he matched it and came over with $7k cash at 2. So it was done! I couldn't believe it..things happen for a reason and we had an extra $2k. We just knew this was supposed to be our car (or should I say van). I got to test drive the model we bought after we bought it (who does that lol). It drives sooo much better than the AWD, so that was good. I snapped a few pictures for those of you are are curious what it looks like. I should have done it without the car seats in because it looks prettier, but oh well, we have kids...