growing up me and my family were friends with a family of all boys.boys who we'd celebrate thanksgiving with when all the families would come over for dessert.boys who we'd play kickball with out on the street corner til dark in the summer time eating popsicles when the sun went down.boys who I didn't think much of other than they were my friends and I liked playing with them.junior high was when I first noticed something was different about those boys.girls started whispering about them...and not in a bad way, but in a "wow, they're cute" kind-of a way.other boys were proud to be seen walking the halls with them...not because they had anything to offer, but because they were a fan of their accomplishments on the football field and enjoyed looking "cool" with them.my friends who were boys had turned into men somewhere in junior high and I wasn't sure what to think about it.we still played kickball, we still had our families over for dinner/desserts on holidays and weekends occasionally,but this new "coolness" that seemed to follow them everywhere was somewhat strangeand I wasn't sure they would be the same to me.until gym class.the boy that was closest to my age was known for being a beast on the football field.he was bigger than literally every other guy in our grade and even bigger than most a few grades ahead of us.girls had pictures of him hung in their lockers or his name written on their composition notebooks.in my mind...it was just weird.he was my friend, plain and simple...seeing girls be weird about him weirded me out. :)but then that day in gym class happened.kick ball.the old-school gym teacher decided to split us into two teams and made my friend and some other jock guy the captain.co-ed teams needed to be picked.the other guy was up first and quickly picked another football guy he was buddies with.there must have been over a dozen other guys to pick from and to be fair,in all of our minds they had earned the right to be picked based on their athletic ability...in their minds, 2nd to at least 9th pick were a pretty sure thing before they HAD to pick a girl."I pick Jenny."I'll never forget Lisa's face, the cheerleader who had been Jones-ing for my guy friends attention in no uncertain terms.still makes me smile...albeit somewhat smugly...but still - he was my friend before he got all manly and she decided to notice.in that single moment, whatever I thought wasn't going to be the same, just was.side note, pretty sure it helped that I could kick as good as most of the guys waaaaaay back then. ;)the guy and family in today's post remind me SO much of my friend and his family growing up.good guys.athletic + hardworking guys.guys who make you laugh at watching them just being...guys.and yes they are even good looking guys.  you're welcome girls. ;) (sorry, gloria!) ;)and these guys are very much like the guys who are were just like my friends growing up...seriously good guys who everyone loves and wants to be friends with.I love and loved hanging with the men and lady in these pictures...I know now that a large part of why these guys are good guys is because of their mom and dad...the people in these pictures are just seriously cool people who I like spending time with and who I admire.thank you for the afternoon, whitlow's! oh and landon?I can not wait to hear about all the awesome things that life holds for you! :)