say cheese

Zach's cousin Becca and her husband Ben were travelling through a few weeks back and stayed with us overnight. It always makes us see the sweetness of our little town when someone from the big city comes to stay. It's the same when my family or Zach's family comes. It makes us so happy to see them sit on the porch and watch almost the entire town pick up their mail across the street. Growing up I always thought it would be fun to live in a town like this, but for some reason now that I live in a town like this I don't appreciate it like I should. We can walk almost everywhere - the grocery store, the library, the pool, the school (where they serve a free lunch to all the kids in town two months of the summer), church (but who's ever ready early enough to actually walk to church??), Zach rides his bike to work every day... A few weeks ago we put the boys to bed and had Margie come sit on the porch while we walked to Gatorz Drive-In for milk shakes. How crazy sweet is that?? Who lives like that?? It really is a wonderful life.
But the reason I'm writing is because while Becca and Ben were here Ben (the incredible photographer that he is) took a few shots of our family. And they are awesome. I'm always amazed at how someone with an eye for art can take something so ordinary (like, say, our family) and make it look just beautiful. Ben - you rock. These are my three favorites: