Arachnophobia

I HATE spiders. Ever since I was a girl and a spider egg sack hatched in my open window, delivering hundreds of itty bitty spiders right above my poor little reading-in-bed-really-late-at-night face, I have hated them. (I sprayed an entire can of Raid in my room that night. I couldn't even go in there for days afterwards because it smelled so bad). And that movie--Arachnophobia, that came out when I was a kid--scariest movie ever. At least, that's how it seemed to my 10 year old self.

Anyways, back to the spider issue. I have found FOUR spiders in my bathroom in the last few days! A couple of days ago, I was about to step into the shower when a big ugly black spider jumped out at me from the drain. I made Kevin kill that one. Then, a few seconds later, I found ANOTHER spider on the shower curtain (I killed that one myself)! This one was light brown and smaller. Then, the next day there was a long spindly spider on the wall by the toilet (also killed by me). And today when I went to take my shower, there was another furry black spider in the tub! (Not quite as big this time though). What is going on? Did the Spider Association of America decide my privy would be the location for this year's annual convention? Now, I know spiders are helpful for killing bugs that get in the house, so I'm not on any crusade to go out and find them all, but they darn well better stay FAR away from me (and my bathroom) if they want to live another day.

the Easter Feast

Isn't it beautiful? Some of it didn't turn out quite as yummy as I'd imagined (I'm talking about YOU, baby artichokes! Waaaaay more trouble than they're worth), but some things turned out truly outstanding. Our favorite was probably the "Spring Salad with Grapes and Pistachio-Crusted Goat Cheese." Wow. So good. Overall it was a great feast! It's a good thing, because we didn't do any of the "traditional" Easter things like colored eggs or egg hunts (but those ARE deviled eggs on the table there--that totally counts I think. Although, my brother pointed out that it doesn't seem right really to have deviled eggs on Easter) or Easter baskets and such. But it was a lovely Easter nonetheless.

And of course we had a real spiritual feast from all the beautiful messages given at General Conference.

A word about the dress I'm wearing in these pics which I simply must point out--it's a new but old dress that I bought 5 1/2 years ago while I was visiting Kevin in Utah (this was after I graduated from BYU but before Kevin graduated, and we were doing the long distance relationship thing). I went to the BYU bookstore and found the dress on the clearance rack. I tried it on and it was just a little too tight. I decided to buy it since the price was really good, and it was one of those "Jody" dresses that everyone else but me seemed to have while I was at BYU. And because I thought soon I'd loose a little weight and be able to fit in it.................HA! As it turned out, I gained something like 30 or 40 pounds in my first year of grad school--far from losing a few! Anyways, it's been hanging in my closet these long years, and finally I can fit into it now! It is quite exciting. Easter was actually my second time wearing it, but it is still kind of an Easter dress feeling (my mom bought me Easter dresses well into my undergrad years, so it's quite the tradition for me).