Lightning and Acid Spills

So yesterday was a pretty intense like storm. Daniel and I decided to go out and grab fast food since we didn't have time to cook a meal. We got a beautiful lightning show over the mountains!

While we were driving home we saw a blue bolt of lightning hit Y mountain. We both thought it was cool. Our night got even cooler when we were almost home we saw little flames on the mountain where the bolt had hit. We watched it for about an hour until it died out. We wanted to make sure it wasn't going to turn into a wildfire since it was right above our house. I am very thankful that we don't have to evacuate! But how ironic would that have been if we did have to evacuate?! Ironic because we are moving out of said apartment this coming Saturday. :)


Today in lab I was cleaning the diatoms (little microscopic silica creatures) and after I added the nitric acid I put it on the hot plate. Now I had been warned before that they were going to boil and react over......I watched, but I didn't take the warnings as seriously as I should have. Needless to say I had four beakers that exploded and reacted over the top-- getting all over the fume hood and a little bit on me!

I tried containing the reaction as best as I could. When all was over I had a few burns on my hands and one big one on my toe. Luckily I was wearing goggles and an apron. I looked down at the apron afterwards and it was covered in splotches. Well.....I guess next time I will follow the instructions when it says: goggle, apron, gloves, and close toed shoes worn at all times, no exception!!!

In my defense, I didn't have time to pull my gloves back on. It would have been much worse if it had reacted over onto the hot plate. Also.....my shoes were nearly all closed......I just don't own closed shoes without holes in them at the moment. haha

It was also fun cleaning up the acid spill. I got to drench everything in baking soda to neutralize the reaction. yay!

Henry Mountains! Oh how I miss you! Part One!

This past July and August I helped a PhD student, Penny, with her research in the Henry Mountains. This is Part 1 of a few blog entries I will eventually put in explaining how my trip went. If I did all the entries at once it would take too long. Even the pictures I am putting in don't even do my experience justice.

Enjoy!!



Left: This was my first day out in the field and boy was it hot and sunny!!! I lost my faithful compass-clino shortly after this picture was taken.

Right: This was our campsite for 5 weeks. Oh the memories I have of this place-- including creepers, owlets, and noisy deer!

 I was being used as a scale of the outcrop. Just so you all know I am 5' 4''. Anyways.....this was pre-rattlesnake.

 This was as I heard the rattlesnake. It was super close to me but I couldn't see it. I was like "Penny, hurry up!!!"

 Above: This is Maiden Creek. I miss her. She is one of the locations where we did research on sill emplacement.

Right: This was taken across the road from the picture above. We measured the deformation bands and the displacement you can see on the bedding.

 Daniel came with us in the field on Trachyte Mesa (another location we worked on). You can see in the left corner of the picture that it was getting darker.....yeah.....shortly after this picture we were rained on and had to run a long ways back to Ed (the Jeep).

 This is a swinging fault that Penny found. It was really neat and I got to learn how to take linear measurements off of it! Thanks Penny for being an awesome teacher!

 We went to Goblin Valley. Galaxy Quest was filmed here!

 Look at all those Goblins!

 We climbed up there.

 But I couldn't get down. :(

 These Goblins were cool and one of them had a face!

 Two hugging and kissing....ewwww.....get a room!

 Sunset leaving Goblin Valley. On our way back to Caineville an oncoming car hit a calf and it flew over our windscreen and died. We were all lucky that it wasn't a large cow.

I accidentally left a jerky bag slightly opened and thousands of ants got into it! It was so gross so I dumped the jerky out. Lucky ants.

It doesn't look steep, but I lost my footing on the way down and slid. It was really fun!

So, I understand that my blog is boring. Mostly from the lack of pictures. I don't post pictures because I didn't have a camera, but guess what!!!!??!!! I have a camera now, so I will try to put more images in my posts. :)

Crazy fun dream!

So I had a dream last night.

I was in Michigan packing to come back to Utah after my mother and I had just eaten two 1 tier chocolate wedding cakes, which ended up turning into a heap of cupcakes.

After eating cupcakes I began looking looking through odd drawers that don't exist in real life trying to find all my clothes and crap to put in my suitcases when I heard a rumor that Cassie Cohen was in Michigan.

So I quickly grab my phone and try to call Cassie, but every time I tried to find her on my touchscreen phone I would press a bunch of different numbers. Eventually I found her in my phone and called...but when I called it brought me up on a large screen video. So I saw Cassie with like 5 girls dancing and goofing off. She wasn't in Michigan though, she was in London with a group of girls that were in journalism...and apparently theater as well.

I must of teleported over to London and brought my friend Penelope with me (she's actually from London) because next minute we were all country line dancing in cowgirl boots. We started improvising the line dance and the teacher that it was hilarious.

But then the dream turned into a theater dream because suddenly everyone was acting out scenes from LOTR. Penny and I were forced to act out scenes without knowing the lines. Penny was Galadrial and I was Sam Gamgee.

The scene Penny was in was the council discussing the ring. It was the scene where everyone is fighting about what should be done. In my dream Galadrial had to chastise the council for acting like children. I love how dreams distort what is real. 

The scene I acted out was the scene when Bilbo gets the ring from Gollum....except in my dream the scene wasn't from the Hobbit, it was from LOTR and instead of Bilbo it was Sam who got the ring. Surprisingly Penny and I were amazing actresses in my dream!

Last Fall Semester and happy 2 year of knowing you dearest love of my life!

Wow.....so this is my last fall semester of my incredibly long bachelors degree. Yes, I changed my major and it took me a long time. And yes, I went to MCCC for longer than expected and this also pushed my graduation date. Yes, I am sad and sometimes wish I could have went straight to some university, BUT the experiences I have gained are worth it. I am grateful for taking a while at MCCC so I was able to meet my husband when I started BYU.  Which brings me to another topic.

I have been at BYU for 2 years! I have lived in Utah for 2 years! I have known my husband officially for 2 years!!!!! 2 years ago on the first day of classes I met Daniel. We have been married for 1.8 years. :)

This semester I am taking 12.5 credits.

1. American Heritage (never transferred) that's ok, I will just blow this class off and get a B. Not part of my major....not something I will devote my time to.

2. Groundwater

3. Intro to Seismic

4. Structure

5. Seminar of course.

Seeing as I have only been in the geology program for a year....I think I am doing well graduating with a geology degree in April!

Winter Semester I will be taking 6.5 credits of English 316, Geochemistry, and seminar.

Spring Semester 6 credits of a field course!

then Done!

4th of July Ramblings

Yesterday was Independence Day. A holiday I love because I love my country.

Daniel and I went to IHOP for breakfast and then went to Wal-Mart to pick up some odds and ends. When we got home we watched "The Patriot." It's one of my favorite movies that I only watch every few years. It's the only movie where I actually like Mel Gibson.

Around 5:30pm we headed to Temple Park (Missionary field in front of the Provo Temple.) Daniel and I had volunteered to do some patrolling to make sure people were following the rules. It went smoothly and we had a lot of fun! Especially since we met up with a fellow crew member and his family was super nice. They fed us and we played games. After Daniel and I clocked out we watched the Stadium of Fire fireworks. They were definitely not impressive, but I enjoyed spending time with my husband.

Those fireworks marked an end in a small chapter in my life. That was my last day as a grounds worker......at least for this summer. :) I love working grounds and maybe I will go back in the fall if I can't work enough hours with my research position. But I don't think that will happen.


I just want to say how much I am blessed. I am grateful to be an American citizen. I am thankful for where my life is at this moment. Things are working out well for me....maybe not in the timing I would prefer...but it seems that I am always watched over no matter what. 


I will be graduating in two semesters. Sometimes I wonder if I would have been happier going straight to a University instead of going to Community College, but then I realize that I wouldn't have Daniel. Daniel is worth the extra few years it has taken to get my bachelors. I love my ward. I love my apartment. I love my job. I love my friends. I love my family. I love the Gospel. I am just so incredibly blessed. 

Basic Sarah Facts

Lets do a blog post about facts about me!

Lets see......I am a geology major!!! I am graduating April 2013. I plan on one day having a PhD. I go to BYU.

My favorite birds are Hummingbirds and Cardinals. When I was in Nauvoo I saw lots of Cardinals! We have a Hummingbird feeder in our front tree so I see Hummingbirds all the time in Utah.

My favorite colors are complicated. I love yellow flowers because they are happy. (Sunflowers are by far my favorite flower) Purple flowers are a close second. I like green and purple-- but not together. I love wearing Blue. 

I love to Garden! I can't wait to have my own vegetable garden one day!!! I work on Provo Temple Grounds.

I play the violin, though I haven't played for a couple months due to being very busy. 

Currently, I am obsessed with Christina Perri. 

I am married to Daniel. He and I have the most fun. It's awesome because every single day I am never bored  because he is always making me laugh and smile. 

My deepest desire is to sing well. A talent I do not possess. 

I also really want kids. :) I need to give my sisters kidlets some relatives their age!

I LOVE turtles!

My bookshelf probably has just as many rocks as books.

I love watching shows that scare me, but then I am up all night.

I hate doing the dishes and laundry. Thankfully Daniel always does the laundry and he does the dishes if they get really bad (we take turns).

I am from Michigan. 

I will be leaving to assist with research in the Henry Mountains this weekend!!!!! 

I am almost 23 years old.

I have 2 brothers and 1 sister. 

Daniel has only met my parents, siblings, and sisters children. He has and probably never will meet my extended family. :(

I don't tan at all! Even after working outside all summer. 

My favorite things about night: Thunderstorms, crickets, and fireflies. 

My favorite things about day: Cool weather, Blue skies with some fluffy white clouds, healthy green grass. 

That's about it for now.