Student loan payoff update

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a long time will recognize this picture. This is the payment tracker that we used as a visual representation for how much of Brandon's student loans had been paid off. We took a square off every time we made a monthly payment. 

I haven't done anything with this tracker in nearly 3 years. I also haven't written any student loan updates since January of 2017. That's because paying off the student loans has been in a bit of a holding pattern as our lives changed a lot over the last 3 and a half years.  Now that things have stabilized a bit I've been able to take stock of the student loan situation.

First a bit of a recap for anyone who started reading in the last three years or who needs a refresher.

Brandon started flight school at Utah State University in 2004. He was encouraged to take out many student loans to pay for flight school. The majority of the loans were through private companies and the interest started accruing from day one. (I should note that I was not in the picture when this happened.)

Brandon paid quite a bit of money to the flight school. but after six years in school he'd only earned his Private Pilot Rating and his Instrument Rating. In my opinion the flight school was horribly mismanaged and couldn't be bothered to actually teach their students. Rather than continue to put money into that black hole Brandon decided to graduate with an Interdisciplinary Degree in 2010.

He had ten student loans in total. Five "small" loans. Four "giant" loans. And one "midsize."  Five were private loans and five were government loans.

Our original plan was to move to Bountiful and finish flight school at the private school there.  Twins and a bad economy sidelined that plan. Meanwhile we couldn't afford to pay the student loans so Brandon put them into forbearance (and interest continued to accrue).

In 2012 Brandon joined the Army and the loans started to come out of forbearance. We sat down and committed ourselves to paying the loans as fast as possible. (He joined the Army after the student loan payoff program ended so unfortunately we didn't qualify for that.) We put as much money as possible into paying the loans - including huge chunks of our tax refund money. When Brandon became a Warrant Officer in the Army in 2015 he started making more money each month and we were able to make double payments on the loans. In less than five years we succeeded in paying off the five smallest of the original ten loans. It looked like we might be out of debt by the end of 2020 if we kept up the momentum.

But then in 2016 Brandon had trouble sleeping which meant he couldn't finish Army flight school and ultimately led to him deciding to leave the Army. As of June 2016 I stopped making double payments on the loans and went back to minimum payments. Any extra money went into savings while we tried to figure out what was next.

Brandon officially left the Army at the end of 2016 and we temporarily moved in with his parents. I got a part time job at a ski resort while Brandon looked for a job. After a while we realized that our best career option would be for him to go back to school to be an Aircraft Mechanic. Meanwhile we took a 3 month detour for a job in Yellowstone.

Our savings, combined with an influx of cash from our tax refund, kept the student loans paid throughout 2017. But in the fall when we arrived in Pocatello for Brandon to start school we were running out of money.  Brandon received money from the Post 9-11 GI Bill for Tuition and Housing. And I eventually got a job to cover food, gas, and other necessities, but the monthly student loan payment was out of our reach financially. At first I thought we could put the loans back into forbearance, but we'd used up all the time when we'd done that when the twins were born.

So we literally had to take out student loans to pay for the student loans. Yeah. That was annoying. The only consolation was that these new loans were government ones so they had better terms than the private loans.

Those new loans helped us cover many expenses those first few uncertain months in Pocatello. They especially helped with continuing to make the minimum payments on the student loans each month. When tax time came around in 2018 and 2019 I put money from our tax refund into our savings to cover the loans for the next year. Brandon and I still weren't making enough money to pay for the minimum payments from our paychecks so it was good to know we had the money sitting in our savings account.

When Brandon graduated and started working in May of last year I was still very hesitant to pay anything other than the minimum payments on the loans. We knew we needed to buy a house (buying in Twin Falls was cheaper than renting) so we needed money for a down payment plus to cover emergencies.  And boy did we have an emergency.  Right as we bought the house Brandon lost his job. Things were pretty scary there for a bit.

Brandon got an emergency job pretty quickly, and then got a better job again within a few months.  Plus I started working part time.  So after a while our finances stabilized.

And with that stabilization I'm FINALLY able to take a look at where we are with the student loans.

We had the remaining 5 "giant" loans plus the two new "small" loans. I added up the remaining balances and divided by the new minimum monthly payment. I found I was able to take off three payment squares from our tracker.  I'd been worried that I'd have to add squares so I was pretty happy that we'd made even three squares of progress on this tracker.  Let's look at it again.

Basically if we do nothing but pay minimum payments we will be out of debt in less than 8 years. That's kind of depressing when you remember that Brandon graduated in 2010. But hey, at least we are making progress.

The picture behind the squares is a collage of pictures from the Island of Reunion where Brandon spent his mission. The original goal was that when we were out of debt we'd go on a long vacation to Reunion to celebrate. I'd still like to do that, we haven't really talked about it lately so I'm not sure if that's our "ultimate goal." Mostly I just want to be out of debt.

Eventually I'd like to get back to the point where we pay more than minimum payments, but that's not part of the plan for this year. All the scariness with job insecurity the last few years makes me want to build up our savings so that we have a good 3-6 months emergency fund before we start trying to tackle the debt.  I've learned that a few thousand dollars in the bank feels better than tossing a few thousand dollars into the ever hungry student loans.

I am also looking into refinancing the private loans. In theory we can get a better interest rate than we currently have. That should help the payoff go faster too.

Even though I haven't been doing blog updates about the student loans I have been keeping track of the numbers on my spreadsheets.  I like the visual story that the charts tell. I'm sure you are curious about them as well.

I don't feel comfortable sharing the exact amount we pay so I've blocked off the dollar amounts on the left hand side. Just imagine whatever amount makes your heart race and base the charts off that amount. 

This first chart shows the progress we've made on paying off the loans over the years.  You can see the loans grow from 2004 to 2010.  This data was a little incomplete so the growth wasn't really that drastic between 2008 and 2009, but the loans were definitely that big by 2010.  You can see the loans start to gradually decrease after 2012.  And you can see the two new loans join the bunch in 2017.  

This next chart could also be called why "Interest is the WORST." It shows the total amount we paid to the student loans each year. The depressing part of this chart is when you see how much of our payments went to interest.  In 2019 we paid a grand total of $0.99 to principle. AGH.  A lot of that interest was what accumulated while Brandon was in school at USU. It's also what accumulated when the loans were in Forbearance. And we are still paying it off. Yeah, Interest is the WORST.

This year I decided to make a new chart. This one shows a running total of what we paid each year.  So basically the total paid over all time. This was the first time I've ever added up how much we've paid total. It's a big amount. And a lot of it went to interest.

I was curious how the total amount we've paid compares to the total balance still due on the loans. So I made a chart comparing the two numbers over the life of the loans. I was happy to see that the two amounts actually met sometime in 2018. They would have met sometime in 2016 if we hadn't been thrown into a whole new life plan.

I was thinking about writing a list of things we did right verses things we did wrong with the loans. I'd love to pass on advise that we've learned from 8 years of trying to get out of debt. But this post is long enough. Maybe I'll write those things in another post in a few days. Let me know if you'd be interested in reading that.

I'm not sure how to sum this post up.  I guess I'll leave you on this note. 

Brandon and I have been very lucky that we've been able to make continuous payments on these loans for the past 8 years. Even though our progress has been slower than we'd like it has been continuous. The loans are getting smaller. We will eventually be out of debt.

But many people have not been as fortunate. Many people have not been able to pay their loans and the interest continues to accrue.  That very well could have been us if Brandon had not joined the military or if we didn't get large tax refunds due to having 4 children.

Maybe those people should have known better than to get into so much debt at such a young age. But remember, everyone was telling college kids to take out loans. And the student loan companies let them. Nobody stopped to consider that these kids had no life experience, no real collateral, many weren't even pursuing degrees that would lead to well paying jobs. Nobody stopped to say "hey this seems kind of risky. Maybe we shouldn't loan 20 year olds this kind of money."

The money was loaned and it has saddled an entire generation with a huge amount of debt - including Brandon. Every time I make a payment I can't help but wonder what else we could have done with that money.

So far in January 2020

After I posted my last update one of my loyal readers texted me and said that she'd had a rough Sunday and that reading my blog update was the best part of her day.  

So we are officially changing this blog from "The #1 blog for people on bed rest" to "The #1 blog for people who need distracting from the woes of life."

I'm glad I could be here for you all. 

I'm happy to report that we made it through those rough first few days back in school. Some of us better than other's but we all survived. 

On the first Monday back I told the kids that I wouldn't expect much of them after school. When they came home they were allowed to go right downstairs and watch some movies. That was good for all of us. 

On Tuesday Derrick had his first church-activity-formally-known-as-scouts.  The leaders paired up older boys to work with the younger boys.  Brandon went with Derrick and was there in case he got overwhelmed, but Derrick did fabulous. They played some sort of indoor soccer game and Derrick was right in the middle of it.  He didn't even freak out when he got hit in the head with a soccer ball. 

On Tuesday Brandon and I went on a walk and Brandon brought up an idea he'd been thinking about for a little while.  He asked me if I'd ever want to own and run a summer camp. At first I said no because all I could think about was the liability of owning a place like that.  But then I realized that that was the only drawback I could think of. Besides the liability I would LOVE to run a summer camp. It sounded like a great idea. 

So Brandon and I are unofficially hoping to one day buy some property and start a summer camp. We'd like to do this in about 10 years so in about 2030. Honestly I am so happy to have this idea. We were both feeling a little goal-less lately. It seemed like our only point in life was to pay the mortgage and raise the kids. (Which are both good things, but they are a little on the monotonous side.) Now we have something to dream and plan for. 

Right now we have jokingly named the plan "Camp To Belong" inspired by this scene in the movie Oceans Thirteen. 

Our last life plan inspired by a movie scene worked really well (remember the Rich Purnell Maneuver anyone?) So I'm feeling pretty good about this one. 

Anyway, back to reality. 

At some point during the week Lydia drew this picture. It's of a lady helping build the set for a play that she is directing. Lydia is planning to enter the youth division of the Magic Valley Art and Soul contest in April.   

Another thing that happened at some point during that first week was we had some really nice weather. We went and played in the back yard. I've been watching lots of the MIGardener Youtube channel and getting excited for Spring. I was out there eyeing the spot where I plan to grow our garden.

The kids were playing in the tree. Here's Lydia.

And Charlotte

On Wednesday night I decided it was time to dye my hair. My darkish roots have passed the "cute" length and just started making my hair look neglected. I decided I wanted to go light brown. Brandon is the most thorough person I know so I always have him dye my hair. He did that for me and I was really happy with the result.

I guess is was not much of a change because the kids still haven't noticed or said anything.

On Thursday I opened up a little free newspaper that we get delivered in our mail on Wednesdays. I was so happy to see this little blurb for the Autism Support Group that I am putting together. I sent this in to the paper so it wasn't exactly a surprise to see it, but it was still cool.

Here's a picture we took before school on Friday morning. Charlotte wanted to look like she was holding the full moon. 

I didn't go to work on Friday because I had to go to the social security office.  UGH that was a drag.  Derrick's Medicaid status changed recently because Brandon is making more money. So now we have to Apply for Katie Beckett Medicaid. The first step in doing that is to get denied for Social Security. For real. So anyway I had to go into the Social Security Office.  Derrick's medicaid case manager had given me a whole list of paperwork I would need to take in so I'd gathered all that.  Well when I got to the office all they needed was Derrick's SS number.  I was barely able to say 5 sentences.  They set me up with a appointment for a phone interview the next week and sent me on my way.

Since I had the morning off I decided this was a good time to go get the Honda's oil change. So I took care of that. At least the morning hadn't been a complete waste of my time.

Then I picked up Veronica.  A little while after we got home Fed Ex came and delivered a package. It was a new computer that Brandon had ordered with the money from his Christmas Bonus. I'd told him he HAD to buy a new computer. He's limped along with his old one for about three years. He said it was fine, but I told him that I was sick of hearing him complain about things like how slow it started. I told him, "Buying this computer for you will help my sanity because you'll be complaining less." So he ordered it.

When I told Veronica it was a late Christmas Present she said we should wrap it.  So we did.

Friday had been Spirit Day at school. This school does Spirit days differently than anywhere else we've lived. On Spirit Day the PTA sells little toys for $1 each. The kids LOVE these toys, but I make them buy them with their own money Every month its a different toy. This month they got light up tops.  The kids had fun with their tops for about an hour. Then the toys started breaking and that was the end of the fun. I guess it was worth the money.

Brandon didn't get to enjoy his computer on Friday night because he was doing something even more fun. He was going camping.

Lately we've realized that Brandon needs a little bit more adventure in his life. He's been so busy with family and school the past few years that he hasn't had time to focus on hobbies.  He's been very supportive of me exploring my interests and hobbies so I knew I needed to do the same for him. I've told him that Wednesdays can be his free nights. He doesn't even need to come home after work on Wednesdays. And we've decided that he can also take one weekend a month and go camping. So on Friday he already had his stuff packed in the car and he went straight the South Hills for a winter camping trip. He had a great time.

Meanwhile the kids and I had a fun time at home. I'd promised the kids we could pull out the couch bed and watch movies while laying on that. Our plan for the evening had been for us to watch Lion King and Bambi on Disney Plus. But that plan was thwarted when our internet went down right as we were eating dinner.

I hurried and went through our big tote of movies. I wanted to find something the kids hadn't watched a hundred times. I found our DVD's of the original Star Wars trilogy. It's been a few years since we watched those.  So I put A New Hope in and we watched that.  The kids loved it.

The internet came back on right as the movie was ending.  I put the kids to bed and then took my computer to my room and watched the 90's X-Men cartoon on Disney Plus. I watched the whole 5 episode arc of the Phoenix Saga followed by the 4 season arc of the Dark Phoenix Saga. I loved the Phoenix story when I was a kid, but I was never been able to watch all 9 episodes in order. In fact there were a few episodes that I wasn't sure I ever saw. It was great to finally achieve my childhood dream of watching all the episodes. Totally worth the subscription to Disney Plus.

The next day I wore my Phoenix shirt in honor of finally watching all the episodes.

I stayed up until about 1:00 watching the show. (I justified it by running laundry through the washer and dryer and putting it away while I was staying up for the show.)  The kids woke up at 6:30 which was so not cool. I had been dragging them out of bed every day at 7:00 all week long so for them to wake up at 6:30 on a Saturday was just unfair. They came in to wake me up and I told them it was still dark outside and to go away.  They mercifully left me alone and took care of finding cereal for breakfast. I didn't get up officially until closer to 9:00 that was nice.

Then we cleaned the house and got ready for a day of adventure. Every January Twin Falls puts together something called Cabin Fever Day. A bunch of businesses and organizations offer free activities all over town. Of course we were going to do this. We had options including roller skating, bowling, a star show, swimming, music lessons, scuba diving lessons, and solar viewing.

We decided we wanted to go to the Star Show at the planetarium at 11:30, then go to a music lesson, and then go swimming.  So we were getting ready to leave the house at about 11:15 to head to the planetarium.  Brandon came home right as we were heading to the car.  He climbed wanted to come with us so he hopped into the passenger side of the Honda. 

We got to the Science Center/Planetarium right at 11:30. That show was already "sold out" so we waited until the 12:30 showing. That wasn't a problem because we had the whole rest of the science museum to explore. The kids had fun looking at all the displays.

The museum was also doing a reptile review. Derrick got to hold a snake.

And then let the handler put a snake around his neck.

My kids also really like the gift shop at the museum. They spent a lot of time in here.

A little before 12:30 we went into the planetarium for the star show. We were here a few weeks ago to watch the Volcano Movie, and it was fun to be back again so soon.

The star show was really fun. The planetarium director did it. He was able to show us exactly what the night sky would look like that night and pointed out constellations. The kids loved it. He also showed trailers for some upcoming movies at the planetarium. And he showed a crazy movie called Sunny Bunnies that had so much movement that we all got sick to our stomachs. The whole thing was really fun.

After that we went to Wakefield music for the free music lessons. This was mostly for Derrick because he really wanted to touch a violin. The lobby was really crowded so basically Derrick held a violin for a second, all the kids got free cookies, and we were out of there.

Then we came home and the kids and I changed into swimming suits. Brandon stayed home to clean out the jeep from his trip. I took the kids to the YMCA that is right by our house. This is the first time we've been there and I was feeling a little nervous (because I always do before going to new places) but everything worked out okay.

The kids had a lot of fun swimming. Here's Lydia. (The water was really crowded so it was hard to get a picture without other kids in it.)

My four, plus a few extra in the back ground. 

I like this picture because it shows Derrick under the water. This is the trip swimming trip where he learned how to swim underwater. He was so proud of himself.

Me - apparently unable to open my eyes.

The pool closed at 4:00 and around 3:30 it started thinning out.  Lydia was able to take control of most of the pool noodles.

When we were done swimming we drove back home and then all the kids took quick baths while we cooked Freezer Pizza in the oven. The kids were all super hungry from all the swimming. 

After dinner Brandon watched the Lion King and Bambi with the kids. One of the girls astutely pointed out, "Hey these movies have the same beginning."

I went over to my neighbor Diantha's for a girls night. A week or so ago I realized that I really need to socialize with more women.  I used to work with 6 other women so I was used to talking with them on a regular basis.  Now I'm at work and it's just me and my boss- and he's pretty busy. I like my job, but I don't get a lot of socialization. So I asked Diantha if we could do something together and she said yes. We had fun chatting and then we watched Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  I've never seen that movie - and Brandon has never cared to watch it.  So it was so fun to have an opportunity to watch it. We had a good time laughing together. That night was what I needed. 

On Sunday we were able to sleep in.  I love 10:30 church.  Brandon and I took this picture together before church.  I love how my hair looks and I love Brandon. 

We had ward conference. Earlier in the week the Stake Primary President had stopped by for a visit.  She remembered all the kids on Sunday and they remembered her. I thought that was great.

After church we had our first choir practice of the new year. I was excited for new music, but it's kind of hard to learn new songs.  We were back to sight reading.  I really like choir because it's a fun challenge to learn a new song.

We were back to the grind on Monday, but this week went a lot better than the first week back. After school one day Veronica and I were going through some of my files. I found this folder of first time Homebuying advise from a class I took in 2016 when we live in Alabama. I'm so glad I don't have to hang onto stuff like this anymore.

I also figured out where we are on our student loan payoff tracker. (Remember that thing?) I'll be writing a whole post about this as soon as I find out the amount of interest we paid in 2019, but here's a little teaser image for you. 

One of the new hobbies that Brandon has discovered is writing. He has started writing a novel.  Yeah, this guy really can do anything.  At first I was just letting him write while I watched Harry Potter Fan Theory videos on the  Super Carlin Brother Youtube Channel. But after running out of those, I decided it was time to start working on my own writing projects again. So now we both write on our computers after the kids go to bed. Brandon jokes that we are playing battleship.

You can't tell in this picture, but my back tire started going flat.  This is the second time that this tire was losing air. The first time was back in December. Brandon took it in to Les Schwab where our tires are under warrantee and they found a screw and repaired it for free. When it started leaking again I was a little annoyed.  My original plan was to just avoid the problem. But I did send a picture to Brandon and hoping he'd go fill it up with air for me. We'll come back to this story in a little bit.

It snowed a lot on Tuesday morning and the kids were really excited to play in the snow after school. Derrick's therapy got cancelled and he was perfectly fine with that.  He didn't even go in the house after school. He just started kicking snow around in the front yard.

Here's a video of his snow kicking tricks. 

Charlotte and Lydia joined in on the fun, and soon Veronica came out of the house to play too. 

They started rolling snowballs in the front yard.

And then rolled them into the back yard.

The balls got HUGE in the backyard. The snow was perfect for rolling snowballs.

The balls were almost too heavy for the kids to roll. I had to take a video.  (And yes, Veronica is always that energetic.)

I'd been in the house making dinner, and I'd been popping in and out to take pictures. I put my boots on and came outside to help the kids roll their snowballs into the front yard. They wanted the snow balls where everyone could see them. Also our front yard is north facing so the snow wouldn't melt as fast there. 

They tried rolling more balls to make snowmen, but the sun was lower in the sky so the air was colder and that meant the snow wasn't packing as well. Plus it was time for Charlotte and Lydia to go to the church-activity-formerly-known-as-activity-days. This was their first activity in this ward. (Somehow we'd never been in the loop when we moved in and we were so shell shocked from all the changes that I never even thought to ask anyone.)  They had a fun first activity.

On Tuesday Veronica and I went through the spice/food coloring/sprinkles cupboard and organized it a little better. We found we have quite a bit of food coloring.

When the kids got home from school they all went to work on their snowmen again. Lydia was able to complete her's first.  She'd put the middle ball on the day before so she just had to make a head this day.

Here she is holding hands with it.

Derrick was really proud of his. I said it looked like Baymax.

Veronica got cold and was really sad. I brought her inside and then Lydia and Charlotte worked on hers for her.

I didn't get one of Charlotte's from the front, but she also put a little head on hers.

I took this picture the next day, but here's what all the "Snowmen" looked like by the end of Wednesday.

Brandon had his Wednesday night adventures so we didn't see him. After dinner the kids helped with dishes and then we settled down to read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. We usually read for at least an hour each night. I'm loving it. Charlotte and Lydia are the main audience. But even Derrick will cuddle up next to me and sit quietly while we read. This is a big change from even 6 months ago. He used to be all over the place while I read and so we could never just sit and enjoy a book while he was around. Now he's just as calm as any of the other kids. Veronica hangs out in the room and "listens" to the book. She is not following the story at all, but she enjoys being with the rest of us. I can't think of a better way to spend cold, dark winter evenings. 

When Brandon got home around 9:30 I showed him my increasingly flat tire. I'd moved on from avoidance and asked Brandon to help me fill it up with air. So we drove to the gas station by our house and Brandon showed me how to use the air compressor there. While he was filling the tire he said, "Well there is your problem." And pointed to another screw stuck in the tire. How the same tire got two screws stuck in it a month apart is beyond me.  

The tire wasn't filling very well and Brandon wasn't sure it would hold pressure.  So we drove back home and pulled the Honda into the garage. Brandon turned on the heater out there and I hung out with him while he took the tire off and put the temporary spare on. I said I'd take the Honda to Les Schwab in the morning. 

On Thursday I woke up and said, "Let's just skip to the park where we read Harry Potter tonight." But that wasn't possible. 

All the kids got up for school, but Charlotte was dragging more than the others.  She just wasn't excited about the day. I told her, "Why don't you come with me to get the tire fixed. We can talk about it there."  So we dropped the other three off at school and then she went with me to Les Schwab. That turned out to be exactly what she needed. We talked about school, ate the free popcorn, watched parts of the Today Show, and watched the tire get fixed. I also had the tires rotated since it was time for that too. I knew it was all under warrentee, but it was still cool to not have a bill at the end. We are almost at the end of the life of these tires so we'll have to get new ones in a few months, but you can bet that we'll be getting them at Les Schwab. (By the way, this was totally not a sponsored post, I'm just really happy with Les Schwab right now.)

I dropped Charlotte off at school and headed into work.  (I'd e-mailed my boss and let him know I had tire trouble. I love that my job is so flexible.)

That afternoon I had my phone interview with social security.  The lady on the phone was much better at communication than the man in the office had been.  She asked lots of questions and then I was formally denied.  (YAY?)  That means we can move onto the next step in applying for Katie Beckett. I'm so glad I have Derrick's case worker helping me through this process. I would have no idea what to do if I was trying to navigate this on my own.

When the kids got home from school they all went to work on the snowmen for the 3rd afternoon in a row. I wasn't paying much attention to them, and then next thing I knew there were four snowmen in the front yard. Later the kids told me they'd all worked together to lift the heavy balls onto each snowman.

This is probably one of my new favorite pictures of the kids. 

They were all so proud of their work.

Veronica bit the carrot on her snowman's nose.

While they'd been working on the snowmen I'd been in the house making dinner. I've struggled with trying to figure out what my role is when the kids are playing after school. I don't want to just be the lady who makes dinner. But what do I do? Do I play with them? Do I make them do homework? Do I sign them up for lots of after school activities and drive them around?

Well this week I've figured out what my role is.  I'm the lady who makes dinner while listening to politics podcasts.  Yes it's a tiny distinction, but I think it's an important one.

While they run in and out of the kitchen the kids are overhearing snippets of NPR's Politic's Podcast, or The Daily from the New York Times, or The FiveThirtyEight Podcast.  Occasionally the kids ask questions about what they hear. I've already explained the separation of powers between the three branches of government a few times. And they are usually interested in hearing me tell a (very abridged) update on the impeachment proceedings.

And of course it's not always politics podcasts. Baconsale re-started this week so I've had that to listen to again and there's usually a few religious themed podcasts in my queue too. But lately it's been mostly politics.

And while I'm on the subject, I've mentioned this before, but I'm the Idaho Chapter Coordinator for Mormon Women For Ethical Government. We are calling for a Full and Fair Trail in the Senate. MWEG has been collected letters from citizens and hand delivering them to Senators in Washington DC. If you also feel that the Senate trail should be full and fair you can write a letter using this link.

Brandon came home and we had dinner. Then the kids helped clean up. They did a great job as always.

In case you want more info on how we get the kids to help clean up dinner.  Step one is live in an RV with no counter space for three months.  Step two is make a chart with a job for each child to do each night.  Our chart has four jobs, Clear table, wash dishes, rinse dishes, and put away dishes. Step three is help your kids do the jobs.  Step four is give everyone a treat when you are done.  Then repeat every night. It took about a year for this to become a habit. The kids still grumble and complain a bit, but overall they are used to doing the dishes every night and will get them done.

Thursday night was actually the night of my ward's relief society activity. So I didn't get to read Harry Potter to the kids.  But I did get to eat yummy soup, salad, and bread while talking with fun ladies.  So it was pretty great. 

Charlotte had made a snowdog in addition to her snowman so I made sure to get a picture of her with her dog after school on Friday.

Most of the kids weren't interested in playing in the snow after school on Friday. But Derrick was.  He happily knocked over his snowman and then went to work kicking the big ball. He was so happy out there.

We usually watch movies on Friday night, but for some reason we didn't feel like doing that this week. Instead we went down stairs and the kids played with toys. Charlotte played with Lincoln Logs. Lydia played with the Frozen Doll house, and Derrick and Veronica played Legos with Brandon. I took a nap on the couch.  It was so peaceful and relaxing.

Saturday was another relaxing day.  Brandon made a deal with the kids that we could get a dog if they helped keep the house clean for a month.  So they all worked together to clean the house. 

The jeeps brakes were grinding on Friday when Brandon drove home from work so he bought new pads and changed those.  (Apparently break pads are really easy.  It took him like 90 minutes at the most.) 

The biggest thing we did on Saturday was actually just something I did.  I held my first ever support group meeting for Parents of Autistic kids. I didn't know what to expect so when 8 women showed up and talked for over an hour I was overjoyed. It went so well. Great things are going to come from this.

In the evening we read Harry Potter and got through the really boring chapter where they visit the House Elves in the kitchen.  We are more than halfway through. I really think we'll get through the book.

Today we had a good day at church. After church Brandon and the kids drew a picture of Lehi's dream. There were a few times Brandon had to get them to focus, but overall it went well. We might do this every Sunday.

Charlotte and Lydia got calico critters for Christmas.  They played with those and their home made boat

This looks pretty fun.

In the evening Derrick and Brandon went to the Baptism Preview activity for our ward. Derrick is very excited to be baptized this year. He and I are already talking about the vest I'm going to make him.

Well we are all caught up. I know that my loyal readers, including my mom, are probably hoping to see this post get published soon. So I'll leave you here for now. 

Thanks for reading.