So this post is a bit overdue since Avery turned 3 on July 5, but life has not been the most conducive to blogging as of late!  We’re looking forward to moving into our new place in 2 days, though, and it’s the calm before the storm, I guess.  Sarah and Kyla are in Charlotte for a few days and I’m hanging out with Avery at my in-laws’ house.

Avery is certainly not the easiest child to photograph.  If you know us well, you know of all the struggles we’ve had with her health – allergies, digestion issues, extreme eczema.  She generally hasn’t felt well for the past 2 years, but it’s summer time and her allergies are not too bad and her eczema has been the best its been since we lived in California 2 years ago.  So I took advantage of the moment and took her out for a few photos.  Here she is, our 3-year-old!  It’s been a blast having some time to her by myself.  She has such a great personality and has had  me cracking up most of the time!

If you’ve been following our housing drama, there is an encouraging update!  We found a house! We’re moving in at the beginning of August and we can’t wait.

If you haven’t been following the drama, here it is in as few words as possible:

moved to Charlottesville.  house was falling apart.  moved stuff into storage.  staying with inlaws in Powhatan (outside of Richmond).  endless hours of searching for a new house.  found a house.

We’ve been so thankful for gracious family.  What would we do without them?  We never pictured spending the summer living with Sarah’s parents, but it has been fun.  The kids have certainly enjoyed it!

Here’s a picture of the front of our house from the realtor’s website.  We’ll post some more pictures once we get settled!  It’s a really cool 1930’s house with a great yard in an awesome downtown-ish location.  Don’t worry, this one has been fixed up nicely and doesn’t appear to have any leaks in the roof, mold in the ceiling, or windows falling apart.

So that dreaded 30 year birthday is just around the corner.  It sounds cliche, but it is hard to imagine 30 years.  That means I’ve been out of high school for 12 years.  I’ve been driving for 14 years, reading for 26, a dad for 5, married for 8, and a friend for 30.

I was going through some pictures from our recent trip to Los Angeles and came across this picture.

This is Dave.  He and I have been friends since the day I was born.  Our moms were best friends before we were born and their friendship was passed on to us!  There were the endless GI Joe battles. Countless games of tennis, basketball,  and soccer.  Sneaking out to light fireworks all over the neighborhood (don’t tell my dad).  Endless hours of me watching him play his new video games (sure he let me play, but I always sucked at video games so I would lose my turn in the first minute).

We roomed together in college, he was the best man in my wedding, we moved to LA around the same time, and our friendship continues even though I headed back to the East Coast with my family.  Life doesn’t get much richer than having a lifelong friend like Dave.  Now he’s getting married (well I guess he’s  already married, but they’re celebrating with a big wedding with everyone) in October and I’m honored to be in the wedding.  I also haven’t been in a wedding since I became a wedding photographer, so it’ll be fun to be on the other side of the camera!

Here’s to you, Dave!  Can’t wait to see you in the fall!

Oh, and here’s one more picture.  This is a recreation of a picture we have of us in preschool.  If all my stuff wasn’t scattered about with our recent move, I’d post that up here too!