when this girl and her family moved into the house next door almost a decade ago, we had no idea what a gift these new neighbors would be. camping trips (including our first encounter with a bear), lake days on the boat, learning to wakeboard (bruised booties and all), and many summer afternoons in the pool are just some of the memories we have stored up with this family. they are literally the kind of neighbors you run to when you need an extra egg or forgot to grab sugar at the store, or in our rural small-town case, the kind of neighbors you ask to feed the horse, the sheep, the chickens, and the dogs when you're out of town. the gate between our properties is constantly swinging back and forth as we join each other for thanksgiving dinners, borrow a movie, or throw a backyard BBQ.
last weekend, while travis and i were up north, i was able to squeeze in a quick session with this beautiful girl. avery was just barely hitting the double digits when i first met her, and now she just celebrated her sweet 16 - driver's license and all! i just can't believe how quickly time passes. with just a little bit of time, we drove down to the railroad tracks at the end of the road and had buckets of fun together!
cheers to the weekend, lovelies!
