Our bomb photographer

We just got our engagements done and our photographer is AMAZING. Before viewing our photos, you should first understand that James is finishing his doctorate in psychology and is obsessed with his record collection. Also, I apparently cannot ride a bike very well. The pics will make more sense now.

It was so fun too. So let me know what you think of them!

Isn't James adorable? And isn't his hair ridiculously amazing? Oh, it is. Trust me.

I finally got a ring. And sorry to sound so cheesy, but I have the best fiance. Ever.

Honesty may or not be the best policy

You can always trust an Israeli to tell you exactly what they are thinking. As Americans, we think awful things about people, we say awful things about people (behind their back, of course), but we would never ever say exactly what we thought, right when we thought it, and right to the person's face who we thought it about. We think that would be rude.

But other people, thank heaven, are different from Americans. Other people like my Israeli friends Dina and Eli, an older couple who run a Mexican restaurant in Phoenix. We've been good friends for a few years now. I've even cleaned their house in exchange for humus and pita.

Today I went in to share the news of my engagement. I walk in am greeted by Eli who forgoes "hello"entirely and expressionlessly says "You lost some weight."

"Yeah, I lost a little weight. So anyways (flash ring), I'm engaged!"

"You lost weight," Eli repeats in accented English.

By this time, Dina had come out from the kitchen, takes one look at me and says, "You lost weight. And in all the wrong places too."

She then told me that I need to eat more machacha so I can get my chi-chi's back.

By popular demand

and an influx of questions, I have decided to shed a little more light on the last post. I kind of sprung it on all you folks, but trust me--it sprung up on me too.

And yes, it's for real. On May 1st I am going to marry the man I love in the Mesa, AZ temple. I am completely and utterly thrilled. I'm also about 99% sure I am the world most annoying roommate right now. My happiness is absolutely disgusting. I fully admit it. And really cheesy things have been escaping my lips as of late. And I'm becoming something that sort of resembles "tender" and "sweet." It's very very weird and my family is still in shock from the transformation. What's weirder still is that it feels so natural to be so cheesy now. Creepy, huh?

So this is James Clayton Reeder (and me, of course).

And I love him. I am absolutely in love with this guy. He's 30, from Mesa, went to BYU for his undergrad and is in his last year of his doctoral program in clinical psychology. And yes, sometimes I AM afraid he is going to psychoanalyze me. He's incredibly kind, incredibly smart and very genuine. In fact, at first, I wasn't sure I could date him because he had no "jerk" in him at all. I found myself in completely new territory and basically didn't know what to do with him. I met him in my singles' ward and my dad met him first (temple recommend interview) and yes, he approves. In fact, a couple weeks ago he basically told me to "not blow it" with James.

And yes, things happened a little fast. A lot faster than the next three months is going to feel. Of that I am sure.

So I'm engaged

I know. I stop posting for a little bit and look what happens.

My life=complete

I had Panda Express today and it was free. My company had them cater our dinner tonight because we are all working overtime to do the company inventory (I worked 13 hours today and will do the same tomorrow). So I am all done with this semester--there is no homework haunting my spare time--and I got to eat FREE Panda Express. To top it all off, my Christmas shopping is all done. If someone told me that season 4 of Arrested Development was about to start production, I would probably die of happiness.

I have officially finished my first semester of grad school. And all I can think about it how badly I want Panda Express.