Muckin' Fudders defeat the Tough Mudder

Saturday we went to the Tough Mudder where Joe competed in a 12 mile obstacle course trudging through mud, electricity, fire, ice water etc. His team called themselves the Muckin' Fudders. The website said to expect to make it through in about 2.5 hours but Joes group took 4 hours and 50 minutes. The girls and I were tough ourselves and lasted the entire time! The girls were exceptionally good even when it was hours past their nap time. Oh, and it took 3 hours to drive there and 3 hours back. They were troopers! Here are some of the pictures I was able to take. I was not able to see much of Joe in the race since I was carting the girls. Hopefully others have taken some good pictures that I can share with everyone.



The first obstacle was swimming through thick muddy water. Note he starts off without a shirt. We got there just at the start and one of his team member's father was holding on to it to give to him when he passed along the track.

Here's Joe going through the woods trying to get around some of the slower people.

We didn't see Joe again for several hours. The girls made friends and charmed the runners. Melody drank the rest of my gatorade (without spilling!).

And here's Bethany in true survival form scraping the last Teddy Graham crumbs off the bottom of the container.  (Waste not, want not)

This was the first time we saw Joe after the start. This was taken at mile 10, many hours into the race. They were tired, thirsty and hungry. They even drank Melody's other gatorade! She was good to share.

Right after the picture above was taken, we saw them go through the monkey bars, a balance beam over water, and a walk through fire.  I didn't get any snap shots, but I took video which I believe Joe plans on posting later.  The girls and I had to move fast in order to get to these obstacles in time to watch "daddy".

The girls cheered "daddy" on as he crawled through the mud under barbed wire.

Look at that concentration!

The girls wait patiently until they can see daddy again.

Almost done, the finish line is around the corner after a 15 foot drop into some ice cold water.

The girls give Joe some encouragement and some loves.  Joe returns the favor, giving each of them a "mug" (mud hug).

Getting ready for the cold blast!

Superman!

Victory! Too bad I was not able to get in front of Joe before he ran through the finish. (Hard to run anywhere when you are holding two girls, have a backpack on, and carrying a camera). The last obstacle was running through electric wires to get to the finish. Joe thought about going back through just for the picture, but desided against it since he was too cold and tired and was FINISHED!

If you want to see descriptions/generic photos of all the obstacles involved, cruise over to http://toughmudder.com/events/georgia/highland-park-course-map-2011/.  You can hover your mouse over each thumbnail picture on the course for more info.

Of course, I can't do a blog post without posting scrapbook pages of our darling angels.

Double bagged and proud of it!

We finally got to the day that we ran out of diapers and didn't get to the store in time. I am proud to say that we lasted nearly 16 months without running out. We had only two diapers left and we figured we could last just a bit longer (we were on vacation at Joe's parents house). Well those two diapers would have lasted if Joe didn't take the car and the diapers with him to a park to play Frisbee golf. (why we left the diapers in the car is anyones guess) Bethany had a diaper that just needed to be changed. While Joe's mom ran to the store, I took two grocery bags and an old washcloth and taped her together. She loved the noise the "diaper" made when she walked.

Happy Valentines Day!

Joe is taking me out tonight for a Valentines Day dinner. We have not gone out on a real date without the girls for a long time. We love the girls, but it will be nice to spend the evening without them. Tomorrow night he is taking me out dancing at the ward dance.

part of the posse

For those of you who don't know what the posse is, it is a group of guys (including Joe) that were all best friends at the Air Force Academy. On December 4th we were able to hang out with a couple of the guys and their families.

Joe is very proud of this next page. It took him longer then most to get his thesis finished due to circumstances that he had no control over. For instance, his advisor getting deployed for a year, and a "semi-involuntary extension" to stick it to the people in charge of deploying so many of the teachers at AFIT. 

And of course, here are some scrapbook pages of our adventuresome duo.

Notice the difference of the dates on this next page.