Great FHE!

Tonight we had a great Family Home Evening lesson.

It served MANY purposes so I thought I would share.
We are trying to teach Tyler about chores and responsibility so I made up a chart to go along with our lesson. Tyler is responsible for a few things around the house.

• Making his bed every day
• Making sure all the clothes are picked up off the floor in his room
• Brushing his teeth
• Picking up the toys and books at the end of the day
• Setting the table for dinner
• Taking a bath (because he doesn't like to any more)
• Brushing his teeth (again)

Now I know you are thinking, isn't this what every kid is suppose to do....well, yes they are, however we seem to struggle with these on a daily basis.

So here is how it works. We have 3 charts.
A morning chart, evening chart, and cross off chart.
Tyler is responsible for doing these chores on his own. At the end of the day, we sit down together and look at his "TO DO" charts and see what has been done. If he completed the task, he gets an "X" if he didn't it is left blank. At the end of the week we count up how many times he completed his Chores. Then on the cross off chart we right in that number. Here is where the fun begins. At the end of the week, Tyler gets a penny for every chore he completed. I know you are thinking we are bribing him, and to an extent we are, however, we also get the opportunity to teach him about:
TITHING
SAVING MONEY FOR HIS MISSION
SPENDING MONEY ON THINGS HE WANTS NOW OR FOR A LATER DAY!

I know you are thinking we are geniuses, but really it came to us as we were explaining his charts to him. He seemed really EXCITED and wanted the money I was using as an example. He also wanted to give some of his money to help build temples. Luckily for me, I had a tithing slip on hand and was able to show him what he could use his money for.

It turned out to be a great lesson. I will let you know how things go. Hopefully I will be able to report it is working and we are all happy.

This is the morning chart.
After the chore is completed, he moves the picture to the completed side so he can see what he has done and what needs to be finished.


the evening chart


cross off chart. This chart was set up for 2 weeks at a time but we have decided to do it on a weekly basis. I will be making another chart.

Tyler has the potential to make 46 cents a week.
$1.84 a month.
And we decided if he completes each task weekly he can get an extra 5 cents...
If my calculations are correct, he can make a whopping total of
$2.19 a month.
He is going to be one rich boy.

Hopefully this is helping to teach him responsibility, how to work, discipline and how to budget money.

So my question to everyone out there is:

What do you do to help teach your children about these things?

AZ Trip

We were able to go back to Arizona to visit for a couple of days. I was a little concerned we wouldn't have any sun because of all the rain they had been getting, but to our luck, it was sunny the entire time. We had beautiful weather. It was between 65-75 degrees. Every day Tyler would tell me, "mom I want one of those shirts that come up to here" (meaning a short sleeve shirt).
We were able to visit friends and family. We relaxed and had a great time. Brad went golfing with his dad and brother for 2 days and loved it. A nice vacation for him. I spent time with friends and family. We ate at our favorite places including Steve's Crazy Sub....the best sub sandwich ever.
After a couple of days in Mesa, we went to Safford to see more family and friends. The weather continued to cooperate with us and it was wonderful. I think there was more snow in Arizona in the mountains than there is here in Colorado Springs. While we were in Safford, my mom and I canned for 2 days. We did 40 lbs of chicken, 20 lbs of pork, 12 lbs of beef and a bunch of pinto beans. We ended up with 96 jars, quarts and pints. Nice food storage!
Here are a few pictures of our trip, mostly family.

Tyler and grandpa's tractor. This is his favorite place to play.

Katie and Tyler love to wear other people's shoes. Don't you love Katie's smile :)

We ventured out to Discovery Park. This is what we met at the end of the sidewalk before you enter the building. Luckily for us, he was rattling his little tail otherwise we would have been struck because we were to busy looking at our surroundings instead of the sidewalk. He was literally in the middle of the side walk ready to strike. The guy who works at Discovery Park let the rattlesnake go instead of killing it. What was he thinking?

This little snake was about 3 1/2 feet long.

We were able to meet up with cousins at the park. We stopped to let Tyler and Katie play and Emily and kids showed up. It was a pleasant surprise and nice for the cousins to be able to play together. I love how Cord and Emily's kids take care of Tyler and Katie. They really look out for them and make sure they are having a good time.

Katie and Cade

Cute sisters, Bethany and Savanna


Savanna, isn't she so cute

Cade, Aleesha, Savanna Tyler, Bethany, Shawn, Katie

Katie & Shawn

Tyler and King watching over King's Kingdom

A look at Mt Graham

Katie and her beautiful smile (sarcasm)

This is one of the things I miss about Arizona....
The SUNSETS!!!!

I am so glad we had the opportunity to go. I can't wait to go again. Our next big adventure to Arizona will be the open house of the Gila Valley Temple. I am so excited! Hope to see more family and friends.