T.V. Turn Off Week, what the h*#@ were we thinking?

Apparently some self righteous SOB hacked into our blog and posted a bunch of crap about TV Turn Off Week!!! Who actually thought it would be possible to go an entire week without t.v. or computures? Since the damage had been done we thought we'd give it a try. The whole thing sounded very kumbaya-esque. We lasted approximately 24 hours. Have you ever seen a smoker try to quit smoking but still carries around a cigarette for comfort? Picture that with Bryce and the t.v. remote. I swear I even heard several mutterings come from his mouth that sounded a lot like, "My precious...."

TV Turn Off Week

As a Family we have decided to observe "TV Turn Off Week". So beginning April 19 through the April 25 we will be decidedly absent from all forms of screens. That means both TV and Computer. I have listed a few of the statistics to help you understand why we choose to observe this week, and would encourage you all to join us.

The statistics are pretty alarming. Television has become the central focus in too many homes. Consider:
•The television is on for 7 hours and 40 minutes each day in the typical American home.
•The average American watches four hours of television each day.
•Fifty percent of all American households has three or more televisions
•American parents on average spend less than 40 minutes each week in meaningful conversations with their children
•56% of American children between 8 and 16 have a television in their bedroom
•Only 1 in 12 American families require their children to finish their homework before watching television.
•Half of all Americans think they watch too much television.

If you want to make a change in your viewing habits, here are a number of helpful suggestions for breaking the TV addiction and tuning into your family.

Pick the Favorite Few. Let each member of your family select one or two programs each week that are their favorites. Then record them on your VCR, DVD-R or TiVo and watch them on your schedule.

Turn it Off During Dinner. Having mealtime together is important; many families have decided to just turn off the tube during the dinner hour to stimulate conversation and minimize distraction.

Make A List of Alternative Activities. Take a family night together and identify at least twenty different activities you could do instead of watching TV. Post it prominently and choose an activity from the list each day until the list is all checked off.

Walk, Hike, Bike or Move. One of the big complaints about television is the "couch potato" effect. Turn off the TV and take a walk around the neighborhood. Find some local hiking and biking paths. Or just get up and get moving in healthy ways.

Visit the Library. To a large extent, our generation has lost our parents' love affair with books. Take an evening as a family to go to the local library, get or renew your library card and find some great books to read together as a family or as individuals. We have provided a slide show of books we have read to the right with our ratings of each book, just in case you need a suggestion.

Volunteer. Giving back to your community with the time you save by not sitting in front of the TV is a noble effort. Visit the Volunteer Match website to find service opportunities in your area. We are Particularly fond of PTA and Girls scouts.

Growing through Growing. If the time of year is right, think about starting and maintaining a garden with the time you save. About Fatherhood's guide to family gardening can help you get started the right way.

Start a Family Night. Many families are finding that setting aside one night each week to be together as a family has really helped their family unity. Learn more about how to make family night a success.

Finding ways to turn off the TV and tune into your family can have important results. Connecting with your children, enhancing your marital relationship and more can be possible as you create positive memories and experiences that don't involve television.

Easter Outfits

We had a lot of fun picking out Easter outfits for the kids. As a tradition Dad & Mom get to pick the clothes and the kids don't have a say (yeah!). We had a great time going out to take pictures with the kids and found a great duck feeding lake in the process. We can't wait to try it out.

Grandma Loretta:

- "Hi grandma, they are good I hope you like them."

Joey

-"We miss you. Is Landon coming for my baptism? I hope he is! Can't wait to see you, love you."

Anna

Golden Sneaker

Who will be the champion and come away with the coveted Golden Sneaker? Today we started a friendly competition to see who can walk the most steps. We are going to be tracking the number of step that each of us take during the day until April 30th. On the 30th, the person who has the most days with the most steps will be crowned the winner and receive the Golden Sneaker. Whom ever has the sneaker will be awarded a $10 cash prize to be spent any way they choose. Fallow our progress by viewing our Golden Sneaker graph to the right.

Holes

As a family one of our favorite things to do is to have a movie night. The necesseties for us are; pour over cheese popcorn, chocolate and a good movie. The only thing that could make it even better is watching a movie from a book that we just finished. Last night we finished the book "Holes" and tonight we watched the movie. We would highly recommend both to anyone looking for a good book or movie.
- "The movie was nothing like the book. I liked the book better because the movie showed you and didn't let you picture." Anna
- "The one I liked was why in the book the warden stabbed a fork into one of the boys and the movie didn't. My favorite was the tunnel they made." Joey
- "I enjoyed the book more. I love all the descriptions that allowed me to imagine the location and the characters the way I wanted to. The movie did make me laugh a lot though." Bryce
- "All good movies start out as books. I think they did a great job making this movie. Although, I heard many times while watching it, that isn't what I thought that looked like!" Lisa

Free Time

On our last day of Spring Break we had a couple hours of free time. After much deliberation we decided to go to the mall! We watched "Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakquel" and played in the fun zone. The kids had a blast and at $0.75 a ticket you really can't beat it. We even used our handy diaper bag to smuggle in movie treats, what a bargain!

The Many Museums of BYU

Who knew there was so much to do at BYU? After some quick research on the internet we found four great museums all located on the BYU campus. We have been going to the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum for years and the kids always love going. Yesterday we found three new (to us) great museums; the Museum of Peoples and Cultures, the Paleontology Museum and the Fine Arts Museum. We spent the afternoon at the museums and had a blast.

Provo Adventure

We love staying in hotels. Cable t.v., swimming pools, hot tubs, who could ask for more? Well, some people could, but it's all we need to have a great time. Give us an out of town hotel (with amenities) some new attractions and we are set. We enjoyed a little "Iron Chef" last night and started our day with a swim. Now we're heading out to explore the great museums at BYU.

Fun in the Snow

Spring?..........April Fools!!! It's the first day of our spring break and we woke up with about a foot of snow, aaaaaaagh! It took us about a half an hour to dig out all of our snow gear and then we were ready for fun. We were a little disappointed to have to cancel our planned hike in the mountains to enjoy Spring flowers but we're getting back into the winter spirit. Who knows, maybe we'll even go ice skating tonight.