in case you are thinking,

"what on earth did that mean?"
it meant that

i appreciate you
and the way you treat me

so, thank you.

thank you

for your vote of confidence. not only does it mean a lot to me, but you're starting to as well.

a new discovery

hmmm. discovered this song while listening to House, and fell in love immediately. turns out that it has the same name as the song that is my blog's namesake.



so soulful.

what makes your heart happy?

• spring-time

{spring honeysuckle in Grandpa Sadler's backyard}

• movies that make me cry
• spending the entire day fishing

{Bonny Lake, our favorite fishing spot}

• my sister, Jackie

{Jackie and I at her baptism, June 29, 2007}

• my family

{my family + cam at my 21st birthday}

• the gospel of Jesus Christ

{the temple: the house of the Lord, Jesus Christ}

and a whole slew of other things.
what about you?

soon to begin: summer of freedom: perhaps the last ever

last summer, i made a list of things i wanted to do, and i actually did some of them! so, maybe i'll do the same for this summer and see what happens.

• read the entire Chronicles of Narnia
• date. one person, many people, i don't care, but a lot--i'm leaving provo, for crying out loud! i'm going to miss all these amazing men!
• kiss a boy, either through my window or in the laundry room.
• road trip to the midwest to look at apartments, visit profs, etc.
• visit Carrie and other so. cal. folks
• out-fish a boy
• test drive cars
• read. a lot
• go to the pool. a lot
• get tan
• hike
• spend as much time as possible outside--hiking, playing in the river, swimming, fishing, etc.
• spend time getting to know people.

Hopefully I can do a lot of these things, seeing as my summer starts now and ends in FIVE months...longest summer ever!

Happy Easter!

Elder Holland, an apostle of the Lord, Jesus Christ, shares a beautiful message about the Savior's suffering and victory. Perfect for the Easter season!

oak or bamboo?

"When the snow falls on the oak, the branch breaks, but when the snow falls on the bamboo, it is resilient, shaking off the snow and still standing tall."


My papa often uses this analogy when we are stubborn or inflexible, and it comes to my mind often when I think of how fast life changes.

It's true, I have decided to go to Ohio State in the fall. It is also true that, although I would like to get a PhD. and become a professor, my ultimate desire is to follow the path that my Heavenly Father has laid out for me. I know that this path is the one that will bring me the most peace and happiness.

So, if it happens that I am led by God to do something besides going to OSU, you'd better believe I'm going to do it, even though it may not make sense at the time. God is all-knowing, which means he knows my heart, my mind, and what is best for me.


I think that this is what my papa means by being "bamboo"; being willing to let Christ lead your life, whether it be in big decisions (OSU, or whatever else happens, for example) or small decisions (being angry because someone in your family ate your leftovers). This means not being stubborn like an oak tree, because either way, the snow will fall, but only with the grace of Christ will you be able to stand.

it's official

I clicked the "I accept admission" buttion and I'm going to OSU in September to start a PhD in Biochemistry. I don't think it's quite sunk in how big of a commitment i've just made, but it's exciting, nonetheless!

things i see, part 3: books

this may have to be a multi-part series, since i have so many books. but, we'll start here

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgsen Burnett
I received this particular novel from my dear Aunt Ruth when I was young--probably only four or five years old. Although I wasn't quite old enough to read it at the time, I loved the beautiful illustrations inside and on the covers. When I was in second or third grade, I finally read the book, and it quickly became one of my favorite books ever. I think that it is a perfect story of hope. To this day, that story of a poor, ragged girl doing everything she can to stay happy and hopeful is so beautiful.

Gene Cloning: Third Edition, Brown
Many years ago, as a high school student, I had the opportunity to participate in a summer research program at the University of Utah. They took us through a three week crash-course in lab technique: protein extraction, cell culture, plates, SDS-PAGE gels, agarose gels, etc. After the three weeks, they matched us with a professor and we worked in his or her lab for the next six weeks, presumably as research assistants. When I got to Dr. Blair's lab, I could perform the techniques, but I knew next to nothing about molecular biology. The world of restriction enzymes, ligase, and taq polymerase was completely foreign to me. A kind post-doc, named Miriam (I think...) gave me a copy of this book, from which I learned everything I know about cloning. I'm definitely taking this with me when I start at OSU this fall.