Well Jill competed in the semi finals of Upper Valley Idol this past weekend and once again, she did an amazing job. They cut the competition from twelve contestants to six, and yes... my amazingly talented wife made the top six. She will compete this weekend for the title of Upper Valley's Idol. Wahoo. She is amazing and I'm so proud of her.
I know we live forever away from you all, but we would love to see you if anyone wants to make the three hour journey to Rexburg to support Jill:) It's a great excuse for you to come!
Cody, Jill, and Gracie
Monday, March 22, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
To all of you hard core bloggers, we are sorry we have been lax in keeiping our blog up to date. We have received some harrassment and finally decided to make an update.
We are both pretty busy with school and work but we are enjoying life. Jill will be done with school at the end of this month and we can't wait.
Jill, my amazingly talented wife is competing in Upper Valley Idol which is a singing competition (similar to American Idol) in the Easter Idaho area. She has made it through the first audition, a call back, the preliminaries and will compete this weekend in the semi finals. She has done an incredible job and I'm so proud of her.
That's what is going on with the Branchs.
We are both pretty busy with school and work but we are enjoying life. Jill will be done with school at the end of this month and we can't wait.
Jill, my amazingly talented wife is competing in Upper Valley Idol which is a singing competition (similar to American Idol) in the Easter Idaho area. She has made it through the first audition, a call back, the preliminaries and will compete this weekend in the semi finals. She has done an incredible job and I'm so proud of her.
That's what is going on with the Branchs.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Thanksgiving Break
We haven't updated our blog for a while. We have been busy with school and work. We are both looking forward to the end of this semester/quarter and being able to spend a few weeks with family and friends for the Christmas break.
For Thanksgiving we were able to spend time with both of our families. We spent Thanksgiving Day with the Branchs. We ate delicious food and then had a blas making ginger bread houses. We experienced the Black Friday extravaganza with Brittney and Abby. It was quite an experience. We woke up at 3:30 am. CRAZY! It is amazing what people will do to save a few bucks.
On Friday night we went to Temple Square with the Greenhalgh family. The lights were beautiful and it was a great way to kick off the Christmas season. On Saturday we went to the BYU/UOU football game in Provo with the Greenhalghes. Before the game we ate some delicious Korean food. The game was awesome. GO COUGS!
For Thanksgiving we were able to spend time with both of our families. We spent Thanksgiving Day with the Branchs. We ate delicious food and then had a blas making ginger bread houses. We experienced the Black Friday extravaganza with Brittney and Abby. It was quite an experience. We woke up at 3:30 am. CRAZY! It is amazing what people will do to save a few bucks.
On Friday night we went to Temple Square with the Greenhalgh family. The lights were beautiful and it was a great way to kick off the Christmas season. On Saturday we went to the BYU/UOU football game in Provo with the Greenhalghes. Before the game we ate some delicious Korean food. The game was awesome. GO COUGS!
Friday, November 20, 2009
Happy Birthday Jill!
It was Jill's Birthday at the end of October. The big day was actually on a Sunaday so we went to Chili's the night before where we had her favorite dessert (molten chocolate cake). On Sunday we took a beautiful drive to Mesa Falls after church. It was such an incredible place. We loved it! Then on Monday Jill's parents drove to Rexburg and took us to dinner to help us celebrate as well! We had a three day celebration. It was wonderful!
Saturday, November 14, 2009
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
The extent of our Halloween fun was our ward party. We (along with some couples from our ward) casted the Wizard of Oz characters.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
The big day finally came and has now past. We were married on August 28, 2009 and we can both say it was the best day of our lives. Thank you to all of our dear family and friends who helped make it such a special day.
Our wonderful day was followed by a wonderful honeymoon. We spent the first few days at a cabin in Heber City and then flew to Long Beach California and set sail on a four day cruise. We had blast and we highly recommend a cruise to everyone. Our cruise left Long Beach California (Cody's mission) and went to Catalina Island and Ensenada Mexico. We had the time of our lives and didn't want it to end.
We are now back in Rexburg settling back into reality. We are loving married life and we both consider ourselves lucky to have each other. Life is great! Here are some pics from our wedding and honeymoon...
MR. & MRS. BRANCH
The Wedding Party
THE HONEYMOON
On the plane to Long Beach
Winin' & Dinin' First night on the ship
Formal Night
Us with the cool animals that our buddy Taryn made out of towels every night
Docked at Catalina Island
Arial View of Avalon-Catalina Island
Some of Cody's converts from Catalina Island had a big barbeque for us and they even had a wedding cake for us and had us cut it. Not many people get two wedding cakes:)
Horseback riding in Mexico
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Our Story
Jill and I have an interesting story. We met at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. We were both on a student leadership team there and became great friends and shared the same group of other incredible friends. If you would have told me then that Jill and I would be where we are today, I probably wouldn't have believed it, but man am I glad that we are where we are.
After my first year of college I left for Long Beach California on my mission. About six months later Jill decided to serve a mission as well and was called to the Korea Seoul West Mission. When we both returned home we coincidentally both ended up in Provo. I was blessed to get a job teaching at the MTC and Jill started beauty school in American Fork. We picked up where we had left off as just great friends. We spent a lot of time together and with other mutual friends from Snow. One day Jill completely caught me off guard when she told me that she had developed more than friend "feelings" for me. I was a little bit shocked and didn't quite know how to respond. Knowing that I would be leaving for Rexburg to start school at BYU-I in the following months and determined not to have a long distance relationship, I kind of just put Jill off, and eventually told her that I just didn't share those feelings and that it would be best for her to just move on. Sad I know, but that's how I felt, or didn't feel for that matter. Jill took that advice and did just what I told her to do, she moved on.
I moved to Rexburg, Idaho and started school at BYU-I. I was certain that my eternal companion was waiting for me there so I began dating a TON, and a funny thing started to happen. I found myself comparing all of the girls I was dating to Jill. Not only that but I really started to miss her. At about that time I discovered that I was developing more than friend "feelings" for Jill. I kept my feelings quiet for a few months and finally mustered up the courage to tell her how I felt. So one night I called her on the phone tell her how I felt. She didn't answer so I decided to just leave her a message. I don't really remember everything that I said, but I think I kind of kind of poured my heart out.
By that time Jill's heart was going another direction with another boy. My message came as a shock to her. She eventually returned my call and kind of told me that her heart was going in another direction and she needed to see where it would take her. My response was, "okay that's fine, but I can't wait around for you to find out." Rather than just backing down I decided to put forth some effort and fight for the girl. We talked on the phone frequently and eventually Jill agreed to meet me In Pocatello, Idaho for an official date (Pocatello is a great place by the way). The first official date must have gone well because it was followed by many others.
We started an official long distance relationship, seeing each other about every other week. That eventually became too difficult so Jill, being the selfless person that she is, up and moved to Rexburg. She transfered to a beauty school here (which she loves) and everything has worked out great. Jill and I got engaged on June 5 and we are getting married on August 28th.
Jill is an incredible person and I am grateful to have her in my life. Few people can say that they married their best friend (literally not metaphorically). I'm glad that I will be able to be one of the few.
After my first year of college I left for Long Beach California on my mission. About six months later Jill decided to serve a mission as well and was called to the Korea Seoul West Mission. When we both returned home we coincidentally both ended up in Provo. I was blessed to get a job teaching at the MTC and Jill started beauty school in American Fork. We picked up where we had left off as just great friends. We spent a lot of time together and with other mutual friends from Snow. One day Jill completely caught me off guard when she told me that she had developed more than friend "feelings" for me. I was a little bit shocked and didn't quite know how to respond. Knowing that I would be leaving for Rexburg to start school at BYU-I in the following months and determined not to have a long distance relationship, I kind of just put Jill off, and eventually told her that I just didn't share those feelings and that it would be best for her to just move on. Sad I know, but that's how I felt, or didn't feel for that matter. Jill took that advice and did just what I told her to do, she moved on.
I moved to Rexburg, Idaho and started school at BYU-I. I was certain that my eternal companion was waiting for me there so I began dating a TON, and a funny thing started to happen. I found myself comparing all of the girls I was dating to Jill. Not only that but I really started to miss her. At about that time I discovered that I was developing more than friend "feelings" for Jill. I kept my feelings quiet for a few months and finally mustered up the courage to tell her how I felt. So one night I called her on the phone tell her how I felt. She didn't answer so I decided to just leave her a message. I don't really remember everything that I said, but I think I kind of kind of poured my heart out.
By that time Jill's heart was going another direction with another boy. My message came as a shock to her. She eventually returned my call and kind of told me that her heart was going in another direction and she needed to see where it would take her. My response was, "okay that's fine, but I can't wait around for you to find out." Rather than just backing down I decided to put forth some effort and fight for the girl. We talked on the phone frequently and eventually Jill agreed to meet me In Pocatello, Idaho for an official date (Pocatello is a great place by the way). The first official date must have gone well because it was followed by many others.
We started an official long distance relationship, seeing each other about every other week. That eventually became too difficult so Jill, being the selfless person that she is, up and moved to Rexburg. She transfered to a beauty school here (which she loves) and everything has worked out great. Jill and I got engaged on June 5 and we are getting married on August 28th.
Jill is an incredible person and I am grateful to have her in my life. Few people can say that they married their best friend (literally not metaphorically). I'm glad that I will be able to be one of the few.
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