Grace's Scripture

Grace gave the scripture in primary a couple of weeks ago. She memorized the whole thing and did it all by herself!! When she was done some of the older kids in primary started to clap:)

Simple things

Today's blog comes from Jeffersonville, Indiana, home of the Census National Processing Center. I'm out here conducting training all week, and so far it has been a very favorable experience. (Especially the part where we get to drive a hot little Eclipse. Not sure how that happened.) It's nice to be doing work that doesn't involve sitting at my desk, and it's nice to know that my boss trusts me enough to teach stuff to other people. And I have downtime for the blog, another plus.

Mom wanted me to share a recent experience I had with sharing my testimony. It was followed in a very timely manner by a lesson in Relief Society about testimony, and how much power there is in the sharing of even the most simple testimony with others (thank you, President Kimball). It’s nice when the Lord uses timing to really drill home a lesson we should be learning.

Some of you may have heard about my friend and co-worker, Justin Kydd. I’ve known him for some time, and over the past few months we’ve been playing outside of work. He is very familiar with the church – he’s been playing volleyball with members of the Suitland singles ward for the past two years, and he’s taken the discussions twice. But he has a very philosophical and well-trained mind, which I think has been a crutch for him when the Spirit has tried to teach him. I imagine many promptings have been rejected because he simply hasn’t been able to find any corresponding logical thought to accompany those feelings and promptings. He claims to be atheist, which I don’t fully believe – I think he just needs to let his mind catch up to what his heart already knows. (I loaned him Mere Christianity to give him some perspectives from another who was once also a self-proclaimed atheist.)

Justin and I often engage in very deep religious discussions. I used to always be very cautious about what I said about God and spiritual things that I knew to be true, because I knew that he didn’t believe in deity or personal revelation – I’d be justifying one thing he didn’t believe by providing another. I don’t know why I was so afraid – I guess I just thought that if I stuck to the doctrine and continued to provide answers to his philosophical logic, eventually things would sink in all by themselves. One day I just decided I wasn’t going to do that anymore. I wanted to just talk to him about things I very sincerely believe. And so I did. It was the simplest religious conversation we’d ever had, and it was one of the first where I could feel the Spirit’s presence. That was the very first time I felt like he was truly affected by anything I had to say.

Justin is starting to take a greater interest in things. He is more actively pursuing answers to the questions he still has, and he is becoming more willing to give voice to his feelings and to accept that said feelings may actually be from an outside source. I don’t know how much of a turning point that conversation was for him, but it was a big one for me, because it strengthened my own testimony and reminded me of what is most important and effective in our work as member missionaries. Our testimony really is our most powerful tool in sharing the Gospel. You can discuss Gospel topics all day long, without really affecting anyone. The real thing that brings people to God is sharing your testimony and creating an environment where the Spirit can also be present to speak to them.

I think this blog is sufficiently long. I love you all.

xo

Abby

The Impossible Quiz

If you happen to have a couple spare hours (who doesn't, especially when they're getting ready to move!) this quiz is fun!
http://addictinggames.com/theimpossiblequiz.html

Love you all!
Dana

Pirates!!

I just saw that Priates of the Caribbean 3 is coming out this weekend. It reminded me of the trip mom, Grace and I took to San Francisco to visit Leslie when Grace was a baby. She was just over 2 months old. This is a picture of her from that trip. Anyway, we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 1 when we were there and I saw the beginning and the end, but missed the entire middle. As you all know, Grace was a fussy baby and I was out in the hall with her throughout the whole movie. She was literally screaming the whole time!! Leslie came out toward the end of the movie and took over for me. I sure didn't know what I was getting myself into when I had Grace! I am glad to say that my other babies have been much easier, and that I learned so much about unconditional love and devotion from Grace! I still haven't seen the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, or the second. Maybe I'll have to have a Pirates party this weekend!

Becky

How many years is it now?!

The story that first came to my mind also involved one of mom's unintentionally witty statements. We were driving around Folsom, CA, trying to figure out how to get where we were going. (P.S. thanks for taking us on so many road trips, mom and dad!) A little background on Folsom - there's a dam there, so a lot of streets are named after dams. That being said - someone asked, "Which street were we supposed to turn down?" Mom replied, "I don't know, it was one of these dam streets, but I can't remember which!"

I also wanted to give a shout out to the parents on their ANNIVERSARY! Huzzah!!Hope it's happy.

xo
Abby

Oh.....the memories

The other day I thought of a story and I wanted to help everyone else remember it. Since the blog has been kind of dead the past week or two, I thought of a good way to get some activity. I'm going to share a story, and everybody/anybody add one you think of.
-Dana

We were in Big Sky I think. Maybe it was Sun Valley. Anyway, we were having chicken for dinner, and there wasn't enough for everyone to have their own. Mom says to Colin and Matt, who had each already gotten a piece of chicken:
"You two need to share. You both have really large breasts."
HAHAHAHAH!

It's All Gone....

Okay, so I really didn't mean for his hair to be so short, but once you start with the clippers you really can't stop. I put the attatchment on that is supposed to keep the hair a little longer but I don't know how much that helped! I think that he looks a little like Sinead O'Conner, with his big eyes! Everytime I look at him I start laughing, from far away, with his light hair, he looks completely bald! At least he will stay cool this summer, even if we have to put sunscreen on his head every time he goes outside!

MAMA MIA!

Last night I got to go to the broadway show Mama Mia with some friends from church. It was so much fun! The show was awesome! The story is all based around the music of Abba and the music was amazing! The dancing was so great and the show was just so much fun. I would totally recommend it to anyone who has the chance to see it!

Becky

Communism is alive...

Raise your hand if you think we're a developed country!

Raise your hand if you think communism doesn't exist in the U.S.!

Why then, are there bread-lines at the sudo-Soviet U.S. post offices?

Any of you who know me, know I have a really hard time mailing things, but today I had something I absolutely had to mail. When I stepped into the post office, there were literally 20 people waiting in line. Whoever believes in 'big government' should spend an afternoon in a post office. They might feel differently afterward.

I think I'll join the free world and the 21st century next time and buy postage online.

Les

P.S. The price of a stamp goes up 2 cents on Monday.

Catching Up...

I am posting some pictures I have taken over the last few months and haven't gotten around to emailing...enjoy!

This is Grace playing in our back yard after this huge ice storm. That isn't snow, it is all ice, it came out of the sky that way!
Grace decorating Valentine's cookies Grace and Ray going to the Daddy Daughter Date...aww they match!
Oh, isn't he adorable!
Watching TV together

Elliot's birthday present, Grace was having a hard time not riding Elliot's trike!

Elliot was surprisingly clean when he ate his cake! We had a great time seeing everyone last weekend! We can't wait for August!

web site

ok, I really wish we had taken some photos. the ones you guys took are so great. Correct web site: www.evespeer.com no 's'. xoxo mom

DC pictures

We had such a great time. It was so much fun being with all our family, even if it was a little hectic. I love you all! Sorry there's so many pictures, I just wanted to share them all!

Queen Elizabeth

I think I told some of you about this while you were out here - my roommate, Princess, got tickets through her work to see the welcoming of Queen Elizabeth on the south lawn of the White House on Monday, and she let me and Marcia come with her! When Marcia and I went to pick up the tix, the guy said, "Woah, you guys are in the East Viewing Area...your friend must be pretty important!" We both agreed that Princess was kind of a big deal (hello, she's a Princess - just coming to see her mum!). I guess it's the place all the senators hang out for such events. Anyway, very cool experience. Very ceremonial, lots of ruffles and fanfare. Enjoy the footage.














We caught this smirk after he accidentally said she'd "helped our nation celebrate its bicentennial in 17...1976!"








Please note - she's actually doing the wave!












I know this just looks like another picture of the monuments to you, but to help you appreciate, you can only get this view of the Washington AND Jefferson monuments if you're inside the fence of the White House.

What a great weekend!

It was just a great weekend. We really enjoyed being with everyone! What a great family this is. I hope everyone has rested up. It was back to packing for me today.