Branson

this is branson and i.
aren't we cute?

this picture sums up our relationship about 93% of the time. brans says something and i laugh. aaww... ha ha. we have a lot of fun together. i just love him.

HOW WE MET: on may 5, 2007 stuart smith and i went to a party at, what we didn't know then was referred to as, the xi house/cottage. the room was packed. i sat on the floor leaned up next to a couch. some kid in a yellow baseball shirt was sitting on the couch and i kinda brushed his leg as i sat down and immediately apologized. then said, "hi, i'm shanna." he told me his name was branson. but the kid sitting next to him was named bronson - i knew bronson really well from high school. so i said, "like bronson?" and from there the conversation led to talk of how people never say names right, and branson calling me stephanie.

the next time i saw him, was july 3rd. i was kinda interested in josh johnson, who ended up being branson's roommate. josh invited me over and we lit fireworks and went to iceberg for shakes. and from then on, i started hanging out more and more. and on july 16th josh invited me to come see 'live free or die hard' with him and a couple people. branson was one of those people. but he was grumpy and in a really, really bad mood. so as we were walking in to the theater, matt ericksen said, "shanna, you have to sit by branson." and i was not convinced i had to. "and you should kiss him. maybe then he won't be grumpy." they all laughed and i was slightly confused but didn't really make a big deal of it. i did, however, end up sitting next to branson. and throughout the whole movie, he made comments on how unrealistic and implausible the movie was. and it made me laugh hysterically. and that's how we became friends.

but the clincher is when danielle haga invited a bunch of people to a party. it was august 7th and there was a giants vs nationals game on. i showed up and went downstairs to watch the game - it was the night barry steriod bonds was going to potentially hit his 756th homerun - breaking hank aaron's record. baseball history. and i wanted to watch it. so i did. branson and mike and spencer jacobsen and bronson watched it, too. and i was intruiged by branson. throughout the night, we talked here and there, but eventually we all wound up different places. i went outside to the deck at one point and i sat down at a table. somehow, branson wound up sitting next to me. the conversation with everyone turned into a byu bash fest. and branson and i expressed the same opinion on byu, defending it kinda. we made eye contact and talked to each other a little more, and brans said, "we should be best friends. bff's even." i agreed and was in a mildly giddy state.

then he threw a 2 liter bottle at my head. that's not entirely true. he went below the deck and was messin' around and threw a bottle up, but it hit me. then i milked it and made him feel bad. ha ha.

anyway. things started to progress between us. i started coming around a little. and branson was determined to bring me out of the anti-social shell i had created for myself since moving home from byu. one night, september 1st, i believe, branson invited me to go up the canyon with a bunch of people. we went, but had a fiasco with getting a site and some crazy lady tried to regulate, it was ridiculous. but we ended up ditching everyone and renting 'the holiday' and watching it. we didn't cuddle, though i tried to make it clear i wanted to. but after the movie was over, we got caught in a pillow fight, where brans actually hit me in the face on accident. this makes me sound like one of those girls caught in an abusing relationship - hit with a 2 liter bottle, punched in the face... the abuse drew me near. ha ha just kidding. but for the first time ever, i stayed out until 2am with him that night laughing and having fun.

and that was the start of something great.

after that, we started hanging out all the time. and the first time i was positive he like me was the night i moved into the condo with mary. he called me and said, "let celebrate!" so i got ice cream and headed over to his house. now, branson has weird issues with dairy products and refuses to share them with other people. particularly ice cream. but i took ben & jerry's ice cream over and he shared with me. that's when i knew.

the next week, on september 10th, he took me to the rilo kiley/modest mouse concert down at uvsc. it was a great show, and we danced a little and i fell asleep on his shoulder on the way home (in the back of the car - kadee was driving). the next week, he convinced me to go down to vegas with everyone for the unlv vs utah game. i did and branson and i were inseparable the whole trip. i had to come home early to get to a conference at work, and while i was at the zermatt for my conference, branson came up to visit. stu and brans drove up one night and we just chilled. it was a lot of fun and i was thrilled that he would drive all the way up to midway just to see me.

and from there on out, we've had so much fun together. we've had a few rough times - my illogical anger and stupid freak outs have been somewhat trying at times, but we've worked past everything that has come up. and now i love him and can't really imagine life without him.

shanna and branson.
has a certain ring to it, doesn't it?

no pun intended.
ha ha ha