13 weeks from yesterday...

I'll be in the MTC!!! How crazy is that? Like, really crazy.

Aaaaanyway, I'm pretty much stoked. Still. My stokedness hasn't really changed. If anything, it has grown. I got a sweetawesome new mission camera! That was super-exciting. I still haven't decided what to name him though. I've never been amazing at naming things. Have I said this before? It took me practically until we sold it to name our old car...and then every time I referred to it as "The Ferrari" everyone was like, "You got to drive a ferrari? Since when?!" And then I would have to tell the whole story and how it wasn't really a ferrari, it was a 20 something year old Toyota Corrola.

Can you say, FAIL ?

My Caps Lock can.

Sometimes I tell funny jokes. The other 98% of the time, it's pretty much just more of that FAIL business...

Here's a picture for you:

There's a couple of good looking guys. Well...maybe one good looking guy. I never was much to look at. So...yep. My dad and I went skiing the other day. Skiing. That's the coolest word. It has two i's right in the middle. :) Skiing. Um. Anyway, we went skiing and had a blast! I had never been before, so my dad helped me get going, but I think I picked it up pretty quick. I'm not saying I'm pro or anything...because I'm really not. I didn't do anything harder than a fairly easy blue run, so...I'm not that amazing. I did enjoy it though, I will say that. I only crashed 3 or 4 times and only broke one ski pole, so all in all, I think it was a pretty successful trip. By the way, it was the stupid ski lift that ate my pole. Not really...we were just on our way up the mountain, and we were going to go past the first stop, where the lift seat gets really close to the ground so you can get off if you want, and I didn't even think to lift my poles out of the way. My pole got caught under the lift seat and bent pretty bad. It broke completely in half on the way down the mountain, so I stashed it at the bottom, and just got used to skiing without poles. It wasn't too bad once I got used to it. I just had to figure out how to balance using my arms, instead of the poles. The picture I posted was our "before" picture. We decided not to take an after picture. My dad said it would look just like the before picture only with hat hair, and more sweaty and tired-looking. We did get quite a few "during" pictures though, on my dad's cell phone. We got some videos too. On the way home, there was a really pretty sunset. I'm really grateful that I live in such a beautiful world. I'm also really grateful for an awesome dad that will take a day out of his week to take me skiing. I love my dad. :)

I started reading Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage. I haven't read very much, but it's already such an interesting book. Not only is it a powerful testimony of the divinity of the Savior, it's a detailed history of the events of His life. His...premortal, mortal, and post-mortal life. :) It's an amazing book. If you have time, you should read at least a chapter or two. It's jam packed with little spiritual nuggets. 

Well, I'm looking at my Blog Post Checklist and I'm pretty sure I've done everything on the list. You know, told at least 7 dumb jokes, posted a picture, rambled about something completely pointless...you get the idea. I'm pretty sure it's time for bed now.

Have a nice day, y'all. :)

-Joseph

P to the S: Chuck Norris counted to infinity. Twice.

Happy Birthday, dear Jessica...

I've probably said this before, but when I try to rhyme my poetry, it's not usually any good. Why do I do it, you ask? I don't know. Maybe I just have one of the most amazing, talented sisters in the whole freaking world, and wanted to let her know.

Here you go, Jess. :)

Dearest sister, it's your birthday.
One year older. Seventeen.
You've got skills, better than Monet.
Painting like I've never seen!
Here's to you, sis. Happy Birthday!
Don't work, that would be a crime.
Also you should have a partay!
Just, you know...get home on time. ;)

Love ya, sis!

Have a nice Birthday, eh?

-Bro.

It's been a while...

I haven't blogged for a while. Then again, who ever said that I had to blog regularly? Nobody. In fact, most people I know don't. At least...not daily, or even weekly. With the exception of my missionary friends that have their parents post their weekly emails on their blog. All the same, I like to keep everyone updated about my oh-so-exciting life (that is...if anyone even reads this blog). Yup.

So, I'm home. Kinda weird, kinda cool, kinda sweetawesome. It's weird to be living with a bunch of girls again, but it's nice not to have to pay for food, and it's really nice to be back with my family. :) If I didn't love my family as much as I do, I might not be so excited about moving back home. But with my family? Anyone would be glad to be home. :) Also, it's nice to be able to go for a walk or a run and not have to be worried about frostbite or hypothermia.

Today is Christmas Adam. I've never called it that before, but today I heard some people calling it that, and I thought it was pretty funny. I'm still not ready for Christmas. I have a couple of gifts I haven't bought, and a couple that I still need to wrap. Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. Not because of the presents or the candy though (that's not to say I didn't enjoy those things...because I did). I always love Christmas because of the warm, fuzzy feeling of curling up with my family in front of the fire when it's freezing cold outside and reading a book, or reading Luke 2, or sipping hot chocolate, or whatever else we can think of doing as a family.

I love our family's Christmas traditions too. Like Shepherd's Night. Shepherd's Night usually happens on the family night before Christmas. We go and buy food that we think the shepherds would have eaten back when Christ was born. Things like unleavened bread, different meats and cheeses (we had lamb a couple of times...but that's kind of more money and work than it's worth. Most of the time it's ham or roast beef), and we usually have potatoes, olives, grapes, and honey butter for the bread. Also, we always eat with our fingers, and we use our wooden bowls. After dinner, we usually read Luke 2, and talk about different things like why the angels came to shepherds, or how the shepherds felt and how they reacted, etc. Then sometimes we'll watch the LDS Nativity video.

I love Christmas music too. My favorite CD is the one that we've listened to every year for as long as I can remember. I think it's called Come to the Manger. I think. It's by Orrin Hatch and Janice Kapp Perry. And you can listen to it at http://www.ldsaudio.com/shop/music.aspx?type=album&id=231. Actually, that's probably just 30 second previews. But you can buy it there. It's worth it, I promise. ;)

I feel like I'm using a lot of smiley's. I kind of go through phases. Sometimes I don't ever use them, and other times I want to use them after every sentence. :p

Besides being Christmas Adam, It's also someone's birthday. :) So, here's a poem for the birthday girl:

Today is Christmas Adam, it's your birthday.

You're older now, and maybe wiser too.

I bet you wish that you were even halfway 

to being done with school at BYU.

This poem doesn't really have much purpose,

Except to tell you "Happy birthday, dear."

My lamesauce rhyming skills and ADDness

make it hard for me to write a poem here.

So, happy birthday to you, Josefina.

I really wrote this poem just for you.

It's hard to rhyme with you're name, Josefina.

And...I think this poem's over anyway...

Happy Birthday?

Love ya!

-Joey

So, merry Christmas Adam, everyone! I'd better go wrap some presents now. They won't wrap themselves, unfortunately... :p

I love you all!

Have a nice day, eh?

-Moscas

...and my feet got a bath.

Today I woke up around 9:30. I got out of bed, went upstairs, ate a piece of toast, washed a few pans, and then went for a bike ride with my sis. I think some other stuff happened too, but I don't remember.


It's late, okay? And I'm tired.


And I just remembered a quote: "I scrambled to the top of the precipice where Nick was waiting. "That was fun," I said. "You bet it was," said Nick. "Let's climb higher." "No," I said. "I think we should be heading back now." "We have time," Nick insisted. I said we didn't, and Nick said we did. We argued back and forth like that for about 20 minutes, then finally decided to head back. I didn't say it was an interesting story."


Yesterday I went to lay sod with Jenny Williams. It was pretty nice after the sun went down. There were nice clouds, and it wasn't hot. Really awesome conditions to work in. Well, we were almost done, and out of nowhere came about 500 kazillion mosquitoes. We left pretty quick after that, but the little hosers still managed to get me 13 times in those 4 minutes.


After I got home from the bike ride today, I called Jack Heaton. We hadn't done anything together in a long time, so we had decided that today when the sun was at it's highest, we would meet somewhere in between our houses and do something. Well, that something happened to be going to the Pick-a-Part junk yard and getting some things he needed for his van (and looking at all the awesome trucks. Duh!). This was probably the most fun I had had in a long time. I know, I know, I sound like such a guy. Well guess what? I am one. 


"You best start believing in ghost stories, Miss Turner. You're in one!"


Um...yeah. Anyway, I'm a guy. I enjoy taking things apart. I enjoy it even more when I don't have to put them back together. ;) So, we had a blast. After we had all the parts we needed, we were just browsing around, looking at different truck styles and engine parts, and Jack was explaining to me how a clutch worked. Now, this was something that had been explained to me several times before, and I still didn't understand. So, in order to understand how a clutch worked, we found an old manual F-250 and took out the transmission so we could see the clutch ourselves. Now...um...that last sentence was about a 2 hour job. So...don't go thinking it was easy or anything. We were under that truck getting covered in dirt and grease and sweat for 2 whole hours. I don't think I've ever been as black as I was today after taking out that transmission. Every so often Jack would burst out laughing. When I would ask what was funny, he would say, 'We're dropping a transmission. For fun. Hahahahaha!' It was a pretty funny thing to do. Later, we both decided that it was the funnest waste of a day we'd ever had. Anyway, when we finally found the clutch, we took it out, and he explained how it worked again, but this time I actually kind of understood. Well, a little more than kind of. Like, it makes a lot more sense to me now, but if you asked me to explain to you exactly how a clutch worked, I probably wouldn't be able to do a very good job. 


So, triumphant at last, we took all of our spoils back to the check out counter and payed a grand total of $5.50 for everything we had picked-a-part. I kept the clutch, just to have something to show for all that work we'd done. Maybe I'll hang it up on my wall... 


Afterward, we went to Jack's house to, um, revert back to our original race. Once I had removed about 75% of the grease and grime, I called it good. I had scrubbed for so long, and so hard that if I had gone on any longer, I would've started seeing my bones...


Work was from 5:00-11:30. My legs and shoes were still pretty grimy, but oh well. I wasn't making sandwiches with my feet. Ew. 


When I finally got home to take a shower, the drain was full of my sisters' hair. You see, the thing with sisters is that there are approximately 200 million things about having sisters that are good, and there are probably only 5 that are bad. Well...hair in the shower drain is most definitely one of those 5. So, I took a shower, and my feet got a bath.


Moral of the story?


Never play chicken with a semi full of rocket fuel.


Have a nice day!


-Moscas

Plan of Happiness. :D

So, today is Sunday, and I'm not usually on the computer on Sunday, but it was a special day, so I thought that I would post. Also, I'm going to be gone on trek until Thursday, so I wanted to get it up here before I forgot it.


Today is Fast Sunday. Not because it goes faster, because...it usually doesn't. Fast Sunday is a happy day. It's a day that we can use to strengthen our testimony in so many different ways. You can bear your testimony in sacrament meeting, you can fast and strengthen it that way, and you can give fast offerings and see the blessings that come from doing so. Fast and testimony meeting in my singles ward goes a little bit like this: Bishopric member: "We'll go until about 5 after the hour" (sits down, and 10 people go up to bear their testimonies). So...pretty much you have to get up there fast, and then we never stop at 5 after the hour. :p I think we ended at 15 after the hour once. Today it was about 20 after. Anyway, long story short, I didn't take the opportunity to bear my testimony in fast and testimony meeting. 


Afterward was Mission Prep. Well, it just so happened that we were talking about testimonies in Mission Prep, so I stood and bore my testimony there. Brother Vanchierrie (our teacher...probably misspelled...you say it Van-cherry.) Anyway, he came up and thanked me for my testimony, and told me that he knew, somehow, that I would get up and bear my testimony. Maybe he can read minds. Or maybe I was just sad that I didn't bear it in sacrament meeting, so I really wanted to when we started talking about the blessings that come from bearing testimony? I don't know. Maybe (most likely :D) he had the spirit, and just could feel that I needed/wanted to. :) I was glad for the second chance I had. Blessings really do come from bearing your testimony. Namely, a stronger testimony. In the Preach My Gospel manual, pg. 198 there is a quote by President Monson that says this: "Regarding one's testimony, remember, that which one willingly shares he keeps, while that which he selfishly keeps he loses..." So, there you go. I would encourage you to bear your testimony as often as you can. It really does help to strengthen your testimony, as well as helping others strengthen theirs.


The title of this post is Plan of Happiness. It's not really an outline or a description of that plan in any way, it's just a manifestation that the name holds true. The Plan of Happiness brings happiness. I am happy today because of that plan. That's why it's the title. I'm happy. :)


I wrote a poem the other day, and I'm going to post it now. It applies, I'm pretty sure. This isn't completely an ADD tangent... :p Okay, here it is:




Home

Familiar, smiling faces
fill the space around me.
Giving peace and comfort
in a world of chaos.

          Holiness to the Lord

Redeeming the dead,
a third of our goal.
Dressed in spotless white,
Baptizing by water and fire.
hands laid on my head,
words spoken, lives changed.

A place of happiness.
A plan of happiness,
In this life and the next.
Standing back and
looking through heaven's eyes.
Seeing the world
the way my Father sees.
A beautiful view 
from the Mountain top.

To stand in holy places
Is to stay close
to the truth. To my family.
To Heavenly Father
and His Son.
To be safe
from the influences
of worldly snares.
Safe
In the arms of His love.

          The House of the Lord

Home.




So, there you go. Hope you liked it. If you didn't, just know that this is a plan of happiness, and that this poem was an attempt to illustrate the happiness, kind of like this post was supposed to do. Did it work? I hope so.


I love the Provo Temple. This last week was the first time in a long time that I had been to that temple. They were doing renovations or some such thing, so it was closed. Every time I go there, it just feels like I'm coming home. I guess that's what inspired my poem. I love the Provo Temple. <3 Like that, see?


This was a happy week.

Today was a happy day.


I hope that y'alls lives are happy, and that maybe I helped to make them more so. I love you all. I am so grateful to have such amazing friends and family. You have all helped me so much in my spiritual progression. This gospel is true. I felt its truthfulness today, as I have many times in the past. The power of the priesthood is real. I had the wonderful opportunity to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood today, and I'm so excited to start using that priesthood to serve and bless those around me. I know that my Savior lives. I am so grateful for his willingness to sacrifice his life for me, and I know that as we strive to keep his commandments and endure to the end, he will have a place for us when we pass from this life to the next. I love the Lord, and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.


I love you all. Thank you for all you do. :)


-Joseph Morris Cannon

Random

Sometimes life is random.

Other times it just kind of repeats itself.

Like there was this one time, when I totally thought it was going to repeat itself, but then it didn't. Random!

I read a book once, and I thought it might be cool because it had the same name as this awesome movie, but I was disappointed. You see...the book was different enough to be lame, and...it didn't have a soundtrack. What's the fun in that?

I went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple today and did baptisms with two of my sisters. That temple is officially one of my favorites. Except for the name. It's a pain to spell. Especially because spell-check doesn't like it.

You want to know what I like? Air conditioning. It's pretty much amazing. The only thing is...I don't have air conditioning in my car. I wish I did. That'd be great. Hey dad...you know how your car has air conditioning, and it's really nice, and keeps you cool in the summer when it's really, really hot? Well...see...my car doesn't do that. And actually, see...it's your car. So...I was thinking, well, you know...maybe, um, you could...you know. Ahem...um...you could, fix it? Just...you know. Just a thought that I had. Actually it wasn't even my idea. Yeah! It was...um...Emilyn! She thought that since it was so hot and muggy that you should, you know...fix the air conditioning in your car. That you own. 

Sometimes life is random.

Other times it just kind of repeats itself.

Sometimes life is random.

...Okay, I'm done. 

There was this one time I had to hug a tree!

I found Tiave's favorite scripture today. It's in Jacob, chapter 6, verse 12. It says this: "Don't be dumb; what can I say more?" I'm kind of paraphrasing, but that's pretty much what it says.

Have a nice day?

-Moscas...

Camping and camping and camping and camping and camping...(just pretend that this goes on almost forever, okay?)

It's been ten years since I first went to Camp Taylor (some camp up in Idaho near Inkom). A lot has happened in those ten years.

Tanner (my awesome cousin that's only...5 years younger than me. But he's amazing, and he's pretty much my best friend, so no worries about the age difference) and I have found 5 or 6 hide-outs/club-houses and have abandoned almost as many.

We made bows and arrows using some sticks we found and an old shoe lace.

Using this same bow and arrow, I actually shot a deer. No, I did not kill the deer or in any way injure the deer. It pretty much just bounced off its side and scared it away. But it was pretty cool, all the same.

My uncle got married. Now they have five children and another on the way. :)

We went on a hike and found some chickens roaming wild. Unfortunately, our dog got to one of them. Sorry, chicken.

While digging around in some sawdust, we found a bunch of shiny, marble-like gem things...that was cool.

We hiked up to the top of a really high mountain overlooking camp.

We also biked that same trail. (Biking was harder...but more fun on the downhill.) :p

We found a skunk in our camp. And...the same dog that got the chicken also made friends with the skunk. Or...something like that. It smelled really bad.

This year we found another skunk in our camp. But don't worry, I scared it away. Emilyn thinks it ran away when it saw my face. ...that's probably not too far from the truth. At least this face is good for something.

We woke up one morning with a bunch of cows right in our camp. But...Idaho, remember? So...no big surprise.

I broke my dad's Walmart bike doing a wheelie... Sorry, Dad. But...Walmart bike. It was bound to happen eventually, right? ...maybe?

We happened upon a nest of angry hornets. That was an adventure...

A couple of my siblings learned to ride a bike. Some of them still know how...hee hee. ;)

We slept out on the grass on numerous occasions and watched the shooting stars until we fell asleep. Those were some of the most amazing shooting stars I've ever seen. :)

I went for a run to stay in shape for Cross Country.

I practiced the piano to prepare for a lesson.

(Those things only happened once, even though they probably should have happened every year...)

We found a huge termite's nest in one of the cabins. Ew.

We found a nest of baby robins. Cute little things. :)

We ate and slept and played and hiked and laughed and sang and talked and explored until we had to go home... :'(

But there's always next year. :)

Well, for everyone else. I will likely be on a mission in a year. So...three years. It's worth the wait though, don't worry. :)

That's pretty much all that's happened in the last ten years of my life. Well...at least during this annual 4-day family reunion. Isn't life just wonderful? :) :) :)

Have a nice day!

-Moscas

Hugs...

Have you ever been having a really, really cruddy day, and then someone just randomly gave you a hug, and suddenly everything was okay?

That was me about 30 seconds ago. But...I was kind of on the other end. It's not like there's a bad end of a hug, but I wasn't really the one who needed it. You know?

Two of my sisters got braces today. Poor girls... I did the whole braces thing when I was 12-ish. I had them for 16 months, and the first 3 days I had them on, I wished I was dead. Okay...not really, but I was in more pain than I ever had been before. It was like having some incredibly large parasite sucking on my face all the time! And I couldn't get it off. I just had to live with this...thing in my mouth for 16 months. Painful, humiliating, ugly...these are some of the words I would use to describe my experience with braces.

Anyway, now that I'm done with that tangent, I'll get back on track...

Just a few minutes ago, my sister (one of the two that just got braces) came up and randomly gave me a hug. In my opinion, those are the best kind of hugs. :) It was nice. I think it helped her feel better, and I know it helped me feel better, even though I'm sure I'm not in nearly as much pain as she is... Anyway, I was thinking, (it was just this once...don't worry) and I decided that I don't hug my sisters as much as I should.

Sisters, if you read this come give me a hug, eh?

If you don't read this, I'll just come give you one.

I love you! :)

-Bro.

Weather...and other things.

In Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth a character named 'The Whether Man' says this: "It's more important to know whether there will be weather than what the weather will be." It's not an incredibly helpful quote, but it makes one think at least (and for any of you who haven't read The Phantom Tollbooth, it's really quite an amazing book).

Anyway...there was weather today. 'Bad weather' as some call it, or 'Gloomy weather' maybe. Whatever the case, it was cloudy and rainy all day today. Just yesterday it was sunny and nice. There was some wind, sure, but it really was a pretty nice day. Nice enough to spend some time at Utah Lake at least. :) It just amazes me that one day I'm out on a wave runner getting sunburned and the next day I don't even want to go outside. Utah is just such a magical place... 

Almost as magical as Ecuador. Okay, not really. In Ecuador it rains every day out of the year except maybe...10. I'm exaggerating, I know, but it rains a lot there. Only, the cool thing about Ecuador is that it stays at an even 72 degrees every day. And that's not exaggerating. You never really had to wear a coat, unless you were from Cali and everything below 85 is chilly... 

Ecuador really is a magical place. I think that now might be as good a time as any to blog about the "Ecuador Experience". Here goes nothing! :)

Once upon a time, there was a family named the Cannons. They lived in Eagle Mountain (where the deer and the antelope play). One day, mama and papa Cannon were talking to some old friends of theirs, and found out that these friends had been to a magical place called Ecuador, and had served there for several weeks. This sounded like a wonderful service opportunity, so they signed up quick. They also signed up their 7 children. It would be somewhat difficult to leave the country with 7 young children at home. So we all packed up to go to Ecuador. We left on December 28th, 2006 at about 2:30 am. It was...really early. But we had to catch the red eye to Houston. 

So, after various airport adventures, we arrived in Cuenca, Ecuador on December 29th, 2006. 

We got off the plane and loaded our luggage onto a few vans to take us to the "OSSO House". This would be our home for the next 6 weeks. We moved everything into out downstairs apartment and got all situated. We had a gas stove (that had to be lit with a match), and fridge, a sink (with water that we weren't allowed to drink...) and a purified water dispenser (that we could drink...duh). All of the floors were hard, cold tile, and the walls were plastered cement. Nice and homely, I'd say. 

The OSSO house was big enough to hold the host family, the Roseros, 10-15-ish college girls that had also volunteered, and us. There was a living room with a couch that looked a lot more comfortable than it actually was, a couple of computers, and an internet phone (it was a phone with an 801 number, so you didn't have to call long distance to home. It was really nice). There was also a kitchen and a dining area that was always stocked with delicious fruits and breads. Yum! The mangos were my favorite. I hardly went a day without eating at least 2 mangos. And they weren't anything like the mangos here. They were almost as big as a pineapple, and orange and red. you never saw a green mango. Ew. Then there were the "monkey brains" that I didn't really like. I think they were called granadillas, or some such thing. They had a hard outer shell, and then a bunch of seeds in some slimy grey...stuff. Hence the name monkey brains.

So...now for the actual reason we were there...service! Yay. There were, I think 5 different orphanages that we served in there in Cuenca. Tadeo Torres was split into Cunas, Casas, and Pequeñitos. Cunas held children from birth until around 2, and then Casas held children from about 2-5 or 6. Pequeñitos had some infants and some special needs children. Then there was Special Kids that had more special needs children. Hogar Miguel León was an orphanage for girls ages 2 or 3 to 18. Remar was an orphanage for boys and girls of those ages. Oh, and there was Trinidad that was more of a day care, or a school, but we still went there to help out. 

I was in Casas for most of my time there. We would work in 2 shifts, 7 days a week. The morning shift was from about 7 until noon, and the afternoon shift was from 1-ish until 5 or 6. We would feed the children breakfast, help them brush their teeth, and then we'd spend most of our time just playing with them. We'd give them "caballo" (horse) rides, read them books en español, and bring them to el parque to play on the swings, teeter totter, etc. It was a blast. The children were so cute and sweet. Most days we just wanted to take them all home with us. (That's probably why we ended up adopting...but that's a different story.)

We had a lot of fun with the children, and there's really too much to write in one post. I'll have to touch more on this subject later, but in short, going to Ecuador to serve the children was one of the most life-changing experiences of my life. I got to see the world from so many new perspectives. It was incredible. 

Oh, and on a side note, if anyone is thinking about some kind of service opportunity, I would definitely recommend looking into this one. Go to http://www.orphanagesupport.org/. That's the website of the organization that we went down with. 

Anyway, it's time for bed, so I'll see y'alls later. I hope this was somewhat inspiring...or at least...not too boring. It was kind of just a bunch of semi-connected, random memories about Ecuador, but it's good to write at least some of the things that happened there...I guess. :D

Well, have a nice day,

-Moscas

Grateful...

Do you ever get to that point where you're complaining so much that you start to annoy yourself?

Normally, I don't really complain that much. Well...I like to think that I don't. But these past few days I feel like I've been complaining a lot. Like, there are times when I just want to tell myself to suck it up and stop being such a pansy...

Anyway, whenever I start to feel like this, I find that the best thing to do is to be grateful. For what, you ask? Everything. :)

I am grateful for the wonderful weather we had today. It was a lot warmer than I thought it was going to be. That made Utah Lake much more enjoyable.

I am grateful for my friends. Friends that plan awesome boating activities. Friends that like to go on adventures. Friends that cheer me up when I'm not feeling so amazing. Friends that help me keep my standards. Friends that I look up to. Friends that I just plain love. Thank you, to all of my friends. You have helped me out in more ways than you know.

I am grateful for my family. I honestly don't know where I would be without them. I am grateful for my parents that raised me in a gospel-oriented home, and that have loved and cared for me my whole life. I am grateful for all of my siblings. I don't know what I would do without any one of them.

I am grateful for a car to drive. I am grateful that my parents allow me to drive the car that they bought and that they pay insurance for. I am grateful that it runs well day to day, and that it hasn't had any major problems.

I am grateful for the gospel. This one is big. Like, the biggest on the list. I am grateful that I have known since birth that Jesus Christ is my Savior, and that He atoned for my sins. I am grateful to have been able to grow up in this valley where I have never had to drive more than a few miles to get to church. I am grateful for all of my church leaders that have kept me on the straight and narrow. I am grateful for a living prophet that receives revelation for the church today, and that he leads and guides us where Heavenly Father wants us to go. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true. I am eternally grateful for that testimony.

More than anything in this world (or out of it), I am grateful for a Father in Heaven who loves me no matter how imperfect I am.

I am grateful.

-Joseph Morris Cannon