our tough mudder team

 THIS.

these people.

 they are why the tough mudder was such a fun, amazing experience.

let's just give a quick rundown of this group...i know i'm not going to be able to say everything i want to - most of these people i've known for half my life!! ::

cary and leah - in the very front with no shirt on and the adorable girl to his left. cary has done 3 ironmans and was the ONLY one of our team that had done a tough mudder before (he was probably pretty annoyed with us asking him question after question about it!) doing the tough mudder with us was a cakewalk for him - but he was a trooper and helped us all through it! he and his wife have 3 kids. youngest is 5 months old (!!) so leah is pretty much a rockstar (pumping on the way to the event early saturday morning and everything!) leah is the one that convinced me way back when that i COULD run...and encouraged me every step of the way! she is an encouragement to me in so many areas and her sweet smile throughout this day was a steadying force when i was close to freaking out.

chari - all the way to the left. this girl. she was my roommate freshman year of college. besides my sister, chari is the one that i've known the longest in this group! she drove the furthest to come (from charlotte!), has 4 kids (one set of twins!) and is a nurse. she is also a rockstar. her deep, deep love for her Savior translates to a deep, deep love for everyone around her (which it should in all of our lives, it's just so very obvious when you are close to her!) she is hysterical and has always made me laugh and do things that stretch me. she is so so good for me. i got to carry her on my back...and be carried on her back. i won't soon forget that!

hannah and john - behind cary (with no shirt) - my sister and her husband. john is the one that started this whole thing (that's what i like to say. he and i started talking it about it last winter?? i think?? but he is the one that sent the actual link and said, "let's do this!") i love them. how i got blessed to have a sister that is also my friend, i don't know. but it sure is sweet! they are such as strong, steady force. they were always looking out for everyone all day - which is so who they are. so thoughtful and caring. hannah pulled me out of that ice water when i had NO idea where i was or how to get out. her hand was there...reaching out for me. what an amazing thing to have done that with them!!

brian and peyton - to the right of hannah and john. brian was pat's roommate freshman year - they got put together "randomly" and have been the closest of friends ever since. brian introduced pat to Jesus by the way he lived his life. yes, i've told him "thank you" lots of times! peyton is such a faithful friend. she loves me and our family so deeply. AND she has 4 kids and is clearly ALSO a rockstar!! she just started running in august and did this AND is running a half-marathon next month. i know, i know, rock.star.

ben and christie - i've known them the shortest. they are good friends of my sister and her husband. we spent 2 evenings with them before the tough mudder...we had them over for dinner a couple months ago. and the night before the race! :-) they rocked it, though. ben is 6'6", so that was definitely helpful ;-) anyone that my sister loves, i know i'm going to love.

pat - man, it was so awesome to do this together. i knew i was safe because he was watching out for me. and it was just FUN to do something CRAZY together!  {and he's amazing. so strong. so SOLID. i definitely fell in love with him more.}

and last, but certainly not least, evan - on the other side of pat. evan (and his wife stacey - who was supposed to do it, but got pregnant! she would have been AWESOME to have with us, but she still came and took pictures!! and cheered us on!) played football with pat in his flag football days. and they adopted a little boy from ethiopia at the same time we adopted lincoln and levi. we became close during our "waits" and ended up traveling to bring our boys home at the same time! their friendship is one of those that got deep and REAL immediately and we've never looked back. we LOVE having them be a part of our family's life. they love each member of our family in such amazing ways. evan did awesome at the tough mudder and his encouragement and smiles along the way were great!

there you have it - team "boom"

if you're going to do a tough mudder, pick your team carefully!! it makes ALL the difference!!