mattandbranson's PhotoBlog

Just a quick Hello =)

2009-07-28T13:25:30Z

I know I have not visited this site in far too long, but unfortunately I just have not been taking many photos. I did take some photos in the rain the other night... this inside-out tiger lily had me inspired. But I am currently without a camera, other than my sister's little point and shoot that hates me and so not much to share. 2009 has been an interesting year so far. I look back at the messages from my last post here and realize how long it has been. Matt and I were foster parents for part of the year, which was exciting for sure. We also have experienced both the loss of my grandma, and and joy of a new "niece" and new jobs. The one place we try to keep up to date is our shutterfly site: mattandbransonmerrill.shutterfly.com. I hope that all of you are doing well, and I do miss hearing from my dear photo friends =) I won't make any promises about visiting more often though because unfortunately I am rarely online! Is there a blackberry ap for this site? Maybe then I would actually visit! LOL! Until next time, Branson

It's Never Easy

2009-01-14T22:39:47Z

Oh boy, I know it has been way too long since I have been on here. Life has felt like a bit of a rollercoaster for a while now. Some may know that one of the reasons I chose to move back to Nebraska was that my dad was sick and I wanted to be around to help. Well, he passed away unexpectedly in November. We knew our time was limited, but none of us were prepared for it just yet. I have also changed jobs since my very short-lived employment in that horrible day care. I am the assistant manager of a convenience store here in Seward at the moment. Matt also has a new job in Lincoln and we have been apart way more than we are used to lately. That has been very hard. To top it all off our apartment flooded (again!!) back in October and my camera was broken in the chaos and so I have once again been out of the photography world for a bit. Things are slowly starting to look up, but it has taken time. Maybe someday I will start taking photos again, but for now I will just leave this photo of me and my siblings after my dad's funeral. He had a military burial. It was the first I have ever attended and it was beautiful. Hopefully in time I will be able to channel all of the emotion from the past few months into something beautiful as well. For now though I am just working on getting through each day! I miss you all though and hope to at least start following your work again. =)

Hooray, Hooray! It's a beautiful day!

2008-08-15T20:27:41Z

Moving day!! AND I got offered two jobs today...I made my decision this afternoon and will be teaching a toddler class at a child development center in Lincoln. What a lovely day! My brother has my camera in Colorado (can you believe I went for that? Baby Boy Bubba is sooooo spoiled! LOL!) so no pics this weekend. I will be posting from my new apartment soon enough though! Hooray!

Fishin' for Photos! =)

2008-08-14T03:02:18Z

I had so much fun fishing with my sister and nephew today that I could not wait until tomorrow to post the pics! =)

Awww, Nuts!

2008-08-13T16:32:04Z

So I am pretty sure I messed up my lens when I dropped my camera a while back. It doesn't seem to be working quite right, and my shots are not very sharp. I sharpened these quite a bit...which is probably obvious, but I sat there for such a long time waiting for this silly squirel to say cheese that I was determined to post them! =) Matt loves the small furry animals and so I am hoping this will get him to pick up his camera again ;-)

MacKenzie Faye

2008-08-12T15:50:43Z

One of the pictures I gave her mommy for her birthday on Sunday. Off to do some painting and take some pictures today! Yay!

Random B/W from this weekend...

2008-08-10T21:00:13Z

Sno Cones Anyone?

2008-08-10T03:26:42Z

To thank Tristin for helping with my apartment flood, Kenna and I took him to the fair to see the animals and have a little treat =)

The Great Flood of 08-08-08

2008-08-09T02:34:28Z

First of all, thank you for all the kind comments and support for my sister and the family. We are all doing a bit better, and the memorial service is tomorrow, so that will bring some closure too I am sure. On to...er...happier (?) things...LOL! This morning I went to our soon to be apartment to start painting, and I chose to begin in the bathroom because it is my least favorite part of the apartment and I thought some color would make it happier. I started painting the walls, and whne I got to the pipe that ran out of the ceiling to the toilet (it is a basement apartment in a house...) I rolled paint on it and much to my surprise (to say the least) the PIPE CAME OFF! Oh my goodness...I freaked out of course. There is all this water gushing into the apartment and I have no idea where the water shut-off thingie for the house is or what to do and no one is home upstairs and the landlord wasn't answering his phone. So I called my little sister, who took an INCREDIBLY long time to travel the 6 blocks from her house, and called my little brother, who implied I was less than brilliant because I could not find the water shut off thingie...all the while fretting because my apartment is rapidly filling with water. When Kenna got there she was no help...I could not get my dad (just down the alley at my brother's house) to answer the door and I kid you not I considered calling 9-1-1 just because I had NO idea what to do! LOL! Finally I called my mom at work and she gave me the number for a plumber and he LAUGHED at me...but he came over. Phew. Then he couldn't find the water shut off thingie either!!! LOL! Finally he found it sealed in the island that separates the kitchen from the living room. By the time he shut the water off there was about 2-inches of standing water in my apartment. We spent the next four hours using a carpet steam cleaner with a 1-gallon (tops!) collection container to slowly suck up the water. My landlord finally called and explained that he had been sick in bed all day...luckily other than the ceiling needing to be replaced there was no real damage. Considering the fact that the water had rinsed the wet paint off the walls and flooded it on to the carpet, I would say it is a small miracle that more damage was not done. My friend Cara showed up later with her camera...I wish she had gotten there sooner so I could have had pictures of the full extent of it, but these are what she did get. What a craaaazy day!!! Anyways, now that I am feeling better I will be back online again! Looking forward to catching up here (again) SOON! =)

Hard Times

2008-07-30T23:43:19Z

My little sister Ryann's husband passed away. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. It is going to be a lot for a 26-year-old to deal with. At least now I know why I do not have a job yet. God reveals his reasons if you are patient long enough. I wish it was a happier reason, but I am glad I am here in Nebraska and able to help her...