No TV

So we don't have TV anymore..... at all.  This story begins a few months ago.  My friend and I were talking one day and as the bishop's name was brought up we both said almost at once, "Their family is perfect!  I wish I had a family like theirs."  You have to know these wonderful people.... you really do.  The bishop and his wife are sooooo sweet and dear to each other.  They go to a weekly ballroom dance class together, they hold hands everywhere they go, etc.  They're just ADORABLE!  Their kids are all wonderful and so great!  The youngest is on a mission now!
Well, the other day I was over at the bishop's house, doing his wife's (Lisa) hair.  As we got talking I jokingly asked her, "What's your secret to such an awesome family!!!"  I was thinking she would just laugh it off but she got really serious and told me her three secrets....... which aren't secret at all.  The secret behind it all is to stay consistent.
#1.  Read your scriptures.  She recounted how she taught seminary for many of their kids' growing up years.  So she would get up early, take her older kids to seminary with her while her husband stayed at home doing scripture study with the younger ones.  Then they usually had an all together scripture study as a family in the evening.
#2. FHE.  EVERY SIINGLE WEEK, NO MATTER WHAT!  She emphasized how important the consistency part was and not how elaborate the evening turned out to be.  Sometimes their FHE's were just a few minutes but they did it without fail every week.
#3. No TV.  She swears by this one.  She told me that because of the no TV thing, her kids had to use their imagination more.  They stayed more active.  They did more as a family.

The #3 is what resonated with me for weeks.  I didn't grow up with a TV and I see it as such a blessing in my life now.  This is DEFINITELY not the way of the world now.  Someone hears you don't have TV and they're like, "WHAT, how do you survive>??!!"  I get that.... which is half the reason I wanted to get rid of it.  We survived because of the TV.  I needed to clean or get something done and I sent Peyton in to watch a show.  Some days, more often than not, turned into marathon TV days.  And I'm sure lots and lots of people that have TV don't use it like we did.  But it became my go-to babysitter.  It became the thing that we did as a family in the evenings.  We'd have "family time" and sit around the TV flipping channels.

Our contract ran out in September and after much discussion, we just decided to get rid of it.  I have soooooo many things in mind for my family and the TV was getting in the way of that.  Ya know what, I'm not sorry we did it.  There are the occassionaly evenings that Eric and I will be like, "Dang it, Duck Dynasty was on tonight."  Oh well.  We had to go to the church building to watch conference this year.  I can't watch my favorite shows anymore.  Football season is on and we're missing all of it.  ETc ETc ETc.  But you know what, we've had more quality time in the couple months we've been without TV, than the couple previous years combined.  We started a family game night on Sunday (whereas before, we had been glued to the screen) Hide and seek is usually on the agenda as the game of the nnight, but it's soooo fun!  FHE has become more regular.  The feeling in our home has changed.

I'm loving this new "no-tv" thing!!