Btw...it's May now.

Just...in case you couldn't tell...it was snowing last week, see. But May has come and not a moment too soon. I just hope this warmth that May has brought will stay for a while. I'm sure it will, and then I'll be burning hot all the time and wishing for some snow. What an ungrateful life I lead. I really do like the cold and the snow...it just...never seems to stay within its boundaries. Snow should fall from late November until February. Then it should stop, and not snow again until the next November. But this is Utah we're talking about, so of course there's snow on and off from October until April. If we're lucky, there's snow on Christmas, and none on the 4th of July. Okay, I've never seen snow on the 4th of July...but my dad has. Anyway, suffice it to say, I'm glad for the warmth, and I hope it decides to stick around. At least until I go to Colombia. Then I'll be set. ;)

I gave my boss my 2 weeks notice yesterday. That was pretty much one of the most exit (that's the abbreviation for "exciting") things that's happened to me in the past few weeks. It was kind of scary, because...well, my boss just scares me.  I'm not entirely sure why. She just does. But I came out fairly unscathed, so I figure it went well. 

Right now I'm listening to the Spirit soundtrack. "Run Free" by Hans Zimmer. It always amazed me how someone who's originally from Europe could compose a song that sounds like America. This song...it is America. That might sound weird, but it's true. Wide open prairies, big blue skies, patriotism...it's just...America. It's hard to describe, really. Anyway, Hans Zimmer never ceases to amaze me. 

Don't you just love good music? I wish I had more patience/time/resources for composing. Because I love it so much. I heard a song just this morning that made me want to compose. There just aren't enough hours in a day, or days in a week. I have other "more important" things to do, like...work and eat and sleep. Honestly, I would put composing above every one of those things if I could...sigh. One of these days. 

After working 4 months at the call center, I promised myself that I would make a living doing something I actually enjoy. Because there's no way on this green earth I'm going to sit in a chair making phone calls for the rest of my life. It's just not for me. 

Well, happy May, everyone! I'll be in the MTC before it's June, and I'll turn this blog over to one of my parents to post my mission letters. That's the plan for now, anyway. I wish I could type music. That sounds ridiculous. But thoughts come into my head in the form of music, and I want to write them down for you to see...hear...and I can't. 

Wow, I'm ADD. Anyway...Have a nice day?

Love y'all.

-Moscas

This post doesn't have a title.

So, I realized that I hadn't posted at all this month. I'm usually pretty good about keeping this useless thing up to date. In other words, I'm usually pretty good about...being useless? Probably. Anyway, hope you find this post just as useless as all my others. I know I did. ;)

The groundhog was lying. It's been just as wintery and cold as it ever has been for the past six weeks. Fortunately, those six weeks are over, and spring is finally coming! My favorite thing ever is being able to go outside in shorts and a t-shirt, and not be cold. If you know anything about me, you'll probably know that I'll wear shorts no matter how cold it is. But the t-shirt, not so much. This morning I slept in until 7ish. I usually give my sisters a ride to school at about 7:10, so I hopped out of bed in my pj's (shorts and a t-shirt), threw on some shoes and was out the door. It was so nice! I didn't feel like I even needed a jacket (which was convenient, because I couldn't find my jacket anyway). Yep. Spring. I love it. I hope it decides to stick around for a while. I also hope it rains! I love rain. :) It's one of my favorite things, really. Singing in it, running in it, dancing in it...I love it. :)

I think there's a reason I usually blog at night, instead of at...8:30 am. I'm not usually as ADD or...random this early. Usually my main thoughts at this time of day are, "I wish I were back in bed," and "I wish I were back in bed." Oh well.

I was giving surveys in my sleep last night. Sadly, it's not the first time this has happened, and it probably won't be the last. I had a dream that I was giving a 20 minute political survey to people at work. That's...not too much of a surprise, because that's exactly what I did at work yesterday. It's just sad that I have to be dreaming about it. I mean, it was painful enough the first time around, right? Actually, as far as political surveys go, this one was pretty harmless. I did feel like it was really redundant though, and 20 minutes of redundancy isn't good when you're trying to keep someone from Richmond, VA on the line at 8:30 pm. Don't even ask my why we were calling them at 8:30 pm, because I have no idea. I did get 3 people to complete the survey though, which wasn't bad compared to how most people did. Um. Why am I still talking about this? How about I just bore you to death. Sound like fun? You'd probably be more entertained if I just gave you the 20 minute survey. 

Today is Wednesday. Know what that means? It means that there are 10 weeks until I enter the MTC!!! It's amazing how fast time is going by. Then again...there are times when it seems like it couldn't go any slower. sigh... I'm hoping to get some missionary clothing soon. That would be cool. I can start breaking in my mission suits and shoes. :)

So...I kinda want to go for a run. Yeah, I'm gonna go for a run. Why waste this amazing day sitting inside on the computer? 

See ya.

-Joey

Rexburg: Home of the 8 foot snowmen.

Today it's about 34 degrees with some light snow falling. Perfect weather for just about anything. Unless you want to go wakeboarding. I'm not sure that would be very fun today. But for anything else, today is perfect. Like  drinking hot chocolate while sitting in front of the heater (we don't have a fireplace, or I would sit in front of that). You could also cuddle up in a blanket and read a good book (in front of the heater). If you're awesome, you'd go for a run, or build a snowman at the park. See? This weather is great for all kinds of things.

On Monday we got our first legit snowfall. It started snowing at around 7 in the morning, and it didn't stop until 10 at night. It was a wonderful day. :) Jaymes (my awesome roommate from Texas) and I went to Porter Park and started building a snowman. We were almost finished with the first snowball when Trevor showed up. Neither of us had ever met Trevor before, but he wanted to help out, so we let him. With the three of us pushing, we got the first snowball even bigger, and when we finally just couldn't push it any further, we made the unanimous decision that our snowman would go right there. The second snowball was almost as big as the first. We had a pretty hard time lifting it up onto the first one, but with a little grunting and some awesomeness and attractiveness, we got it up. After resting for a bit, Jaymes went to find some branches for the arms, and Trevor and I made the head. When Jaymes got back with the sticks and a random shirt that he had found in the snow, he helped us lift the head up onto the body. That's when Trevor realized that he had carrots back home, so he took off to get one. Jaymes and I went into the trees to find some pine cones for the rest of the face. Here's the finished product:

That's Jaymes standing next to Hosehead (that's what we decided to name him). If Jaymes if 6' 4", then this snowman has got to be at least 8 feet. Oh, and sorry about the bad picture quality...it was my lamesauce camera phone...

Rexburg is wonderful. I'm loving it. Biking in the snow isn't the coolest thing ever, but snow just adds such a magical feeling to life. It's the beginning of the Christmas season where everything is merry and bright. I need to stock up on hot chocolate and take lots of Vitamin C.

College is still lots of fun. I think I'm learning to budget my time a little better. I've been getting to bed semi-on-time, and I've been doing my homework. Life is great. :) Calculus is still painful, but we just started applications of integrals, which is really a pretty awesome subject. It gets harder as you get deeper into it, but for now, it's great!

Random story...yesterday I found out that Camille Saint-Saens is a guy. All my life I thought he was a girl. You can't really blame me though. I mean, with a name like Camille? How was I supposed to know that Camille was a guy? Anyway...that was random, but...it kind of just...threw my life off balance. Oh! I remember how I found this out. I was trying to find his third symphony, because it's on the movie Babe and I wanted to hear it. I think I happened upon a picture of the guy on Wikipedia or something. Anyway, you should listen to that song. It's great. :)

I should probably go get ready for class now. Humanities, here I come!

Have a nice day, eh?

Go build a snowman. Unless you don't have any snow. Then you can just sit at the front window and wish more than anything that you had as much snow as Rexburg does. ;)

I love you all,

-Moscas

Today I love Utah.

There was a lot of rain today. And also wind. These two things plus a temperature of about 69 degrees, and I was in heaven. I rode my bike for about 20 miles, just loving the weather. My behind is a little sore now...but I'm sure it won't last long. 

Buzz Lightyear: "Who's behind?"

Slinky: "Mine."

I took a nap just barely, which I probably shouldn't have done, because it means that I'll have trouble getting to sleep tonight. But, I woke up, and I think the fluids in my ears were messed up. I was standing straight up, and it felt like I was leaning to the left. Then I leaned to the left and I almost fell over. Not cool. I wanted to Puke... Well, kind of.

"Laura got all offended when I used the work puke, but to me that's what her soup tasted like."

My dad told me I was a failure today. We went to see Karate Kid (Which is great btw), and we were talking about Letters to Juliet, because it was one of the movie options, and he asked me if I had taken a girl to see it yet. I told him no, and he said "Fail!" I guess I fail. The only way to redeem myself from this would be to take a girl to see it. Good thing it's in the dollar theater.

Okay, I'm really not that cheap, I just...haven't enjoyed spending money since I saw the price to rent my apartment this fall...

""I can't stand cheap people. It makes me real mad when someone says something like, "Hey, when are you going to pay me that $100 you owe me?" or "Do you have that $50 you borrowed?" Man, quit being so cheap!"

Um, my brain is kind of in random quote mode. Sorry about that. :p

"She got a tan and I got a sunburn"

That's the song I'm listening to right now.

Now I'm gonna go.

Goodbye.

Have a nice day!

Go jump in some puddles or something, eh? :)

-Moscas

Wyoming is great. It feeds us...pink lemonade?

So, until yesterday, I was entirely convinced that when I discovered mint oreo's (at 1 in the morning), they were the greatest thing on the planet, as far as being hyper and crazy with friends goes. Well, I do believe that I have found something that might have topped the 'oreo's from heaven'. I was on trek, and see...normally when you're camping, it's like...tinfoil dinners, or baked potatoes, or some kind of mush made out of who knows what, but this trek was different. We had the Nicolsons cooking our food. The Nicolsons are most likely the most talented, organized, amazing camp cooks you will ever, ever meet. Hands down. Wait...then I should probably take out the 'most likely'. The Nicolsons are the most talented, organized, amazing camp cooks you will ever, ever meet. There, that's better. Well, anyway, for one dinner, we had pink lemonade to drink with our

Wow, there was lightning outside just now, and it was SO COOL!!!

delicious potatoes and bacon and...veggies. Watermelon. There was watermelon, too. Anyway, none of that really mattered except the pink lemonade. I filled up my whole PHS Bulldogs water bottle with it, and refilled once, too. Um, and then I was really hyper. And so was Tyler, and Craig. It's one of those memories that's just kind of like...what on earth was I thinking? But...oh. I wrote this story while I was...under the influence? (btw, we decided that we would never, EVER use alcohol, because...why would you? Pink lemonade made us more happy than any amount of alcohol could do. Also, we had a testimony meeting right after, and believe me, it would have been a different story had we been using alcohol) (btw...also...I am not in any way saying that alcohol could make one happy, it's just something that some sadly misled people use to make themselves think they're happy? Something. I wouldn't really know. Point is, I'm being ADD. Real point is, I do not in any way condone the use of alcohol, for myself or anyone else.) So...lets see, that was a lot of parentheses. Oh! Story. Here you go:

"Once upon a time, there was a magical 

place where there was lots of pink lemonade. And 

I went swimming in it, and then drowned. And

then I drank some more. Then end."

So...good memory? Kind of. Scary memory? I'm leaning more toward a yes. Memory that shows how much a little pink lemonade could do? Definitely. (I heard someone say 'fer def' once. Kind of like 'fer rills', but 'fer def', like, definitely. I was gonna just say that, but I wasn't sure if you would understand. Okay, we're gonna get back to...me!) 

The rest of this story goes a little bit like this: *someone walks up and gives us a weird look* 'Um guys, we're going to have a testimony meeting.' *Then we pretty much just snapped out of our weird, hyper mood, and put on our 'testimony-type' attitude.* I was actually kind of surprised at how good we did at not being hyper anymore, and just 'sobering up' if you will (sorry...again with the alcohol allusions...it just fits? ...idk, moving on). 

Our testimony meeting was really quite amazing. I teared up during my testimony, which has only happened once or twice before. I guess I just have some of my dad in me (I love you dad). 

So, in case you were all wondering, (which of course you were) (why am I using parentheses so much? I don't know. But why not? Okay...I'll shut up now) um...oh yeah. I have officially decided that Wyoming sunsets are AMAZING!!! There. It's official. Also, I was considerate and brought a camera, so you could all join me in my amazement. Um...actually, I didn't bring a camera, but I was considerate enough to bring a sister that had a camera (and she was considerate enough to take sunset pictures). So...enough with the considerateness. Just know that this shows that I love you, okay? Okay.

So, there you go. Amazing, isn't it?

The rest of trek was fun. We were climbing around on Independence Rock, and then it started raining these big, fat drops, and then there were more of them, and I had a flour sack baby (Katherine Kevin Jackson) to protect. I ran really fast to the van, and then in a few minutes it stopped, and the sun came out, and guess what? There was a rainbow. Here's another picture for you (Compliments of Emilyn Cannon):

That one is cool because you can see all the drops on the van window. :)

It was an amazing trek. It really was. It was the third pioneer trek I had been on, and it was by far the best. :) It was a ward trek, which made a big difference, I think. It was so much more tight knit than the two stake treks I have been on. We were all friends, we all knew each other, and we were all there to help each other out. 

I think I would definitely call this the greatest week of my life. Fer def. (haha...I said that again.)

I think it's late. I kind of want to blog more about this amazing experience, but it's late, and I'm tired from the sixteen miles that I pulled the handcart. hehe... :p

Okay bye.

Have a nice day.

Night.

Whenever it is when you have the misfortune of reading this post...

-Joey

Clouds

Friends give inspiration

late at night

When the only sound

is the clicking of the keys.

Twelve is a big number,

but with friends

it doesn't seem so big.

The clouds followed twelve.

Big and fluffy white.

There they were,

so surreal.

A painting 

in the sky.

Things happened

that I don't quite understand.

White, Yellow, Pink, Orange.

Some call it science,

to others, it's a miracle.

And to me?

It doesn't matter, really.

It's a place to fly.

A place for escape.

A place where there is

nothing but clouds and sky.

Whatever it is,

I'm grateful.

To be able to escape

every night.

Never wondering how

Or where or when,

just,

Flying.

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

AllergAACHOOO!!! ...allergies...

So, summer brings only two things for me. ...Okay, three things.

1. Heat. I prefer the cold. I'm moving up to Rexburg this fall where it's winter for...9 months out of the year. Yeah. :) My body is one that likes to start sweating at around 75 degrees. Turn it up to 95? I'm dying. Not that I don't love the sun. I absolutely LOVE the sunlight. That's really one of my favorite things about summer. Long days. Then again, as a child, I was always confused...and kind of sad/mad...when my parents put me to bed during the day time. "It's 8 o' clock" they would say. "Time for bed." I learned eventually about the earth's orbit around the sun and how it's north/south axis is on a slant, which gives us seasons. Phew. So...long story even longer, I don't really like the heat of summer, but I love the long days.

2. Allergies. Ever since I was about 7 years old, I have had seasonal hay fever. I am allergic to pretty much anything that grows. Okay...not really, but close. I am allergic to pollen, which comes from every green thing on this earth (some more than others...), and dander from animals (mostly the animals with hair). So, summer equals heat, which equals growing plants, which equals LOTS of pollen as these plants are doing what they've done since their creation. Reproducing. Their sole purpose is to continue the existence of their species through making baby plants. So, now that we've had 2 science lessons...here's a third. Okay, not really. Animals have a LOT of hair. Especially during the winter. Cats, dogs, Sea otters (Random, I know...but I heard once that sea otters have as much hair in one square inch as a german shepherd has on its entire body), etc. So, when it gets hot in the summer (I won't explain that one again...) these animals start shedding. Their hair and the stuff on it that I'm allergic to (Whatever that is) starts floating around in the air, or getting on people's clothes (I love you Mariah) and then it gets in the house. Needless to say, the summer is not a good time for me allergy-wise. My nose starts to itch, my eyes start to itch, and the second I touch either of them...any of them... it itches 10 times more, and the more itch it the worse and worse it gets, until my eyes are bloodshot, and my nose is running off my face. Not the most pleasant experience, I can assure you. There is such thing as allergy medicine, but I have never found it 100% effective... It does help, however, so I use it. Also there are eye drops to help a suffering person that has already started to itch their eyes. I find that the best remedy is to lay down in a cool, dark room with a cold, wet cloth over your face (mouth, nose, and eyes), and just lay there for a few hours. Another preventative measure one with allergies can take is to wash your hands (up to the elbows) a LOT. The more you wash, the less dander/pollen there will be on your hands, and the less it will effect you if (when...?) you touch your face. Oh, that's another thing. Don't touch your face. EVER. :D sigh... Other than that, allergies are just great. You get to chew on sagebrush. I mean, how cool is that? I bet you've never chewed on sagebrush, have you? It tastes like an orange peel. Yum!

3. Um...I can't remember what number 3 was. Maybe it was boating. I love boating. I've only done it...4 or 5 times, but I'm not too bad on a wakeboard. I was never very good at the whole water skiing thing, but I love to wakeboard. Also, getting sunburned in the shape of a life-vest is great fun too. What's even more fun, is putting your handprint on your chest with sunscreen and getting a...painful but cool looking burn. Life is just great!

Anyway, I hope Y'alls have a sweetawesome summer!

Have a nice day.

-Moscas