Evan, Rachel, and the Shrimp Shack Shooters: Summer

This summer has been crazy busy. Which is just how we like it at our house. Last weekend, it was my Grandma's birthday the big 75. So I called my sister and asked if she could manage to squeeze in a trip. It's only been a year and a half since I saw her last, so I was crossing my fingers and toes that she could. Luckily she managed to swing it, even though she had worked a 15 hour night shift Friday night, ended Saturday morning at 9:45 and then her flight was at 11:30 Saturday afternoon. The poor girl got no sleep. And she knows the second she gets here, I'm a little energizer bunny that loves hanging out with her. My Dad was in on the whole surprise, but we didn't tell my Mom or my grandparents so it could be special for them. Needless to say I tried to avoid my Mom that last week because I'm absolutely terrible with keeping secrets. Saturday afternoon while Evan was working, my Dad and I took Alta on a hike to Dog Lake. I know most people say their dogs are so good and blah blah blah. But honestly Alta is so good off leash and on. It really paid off disciplining her young because now it's actually fun to hike with her because she doesn't run off, she literally stays right by you. There were mountain bikes going up and down that day and I would tell her to get to the side and sit and she would. It was so great to have her be so obedient. Here is an adorable picture of her swimming.

She is such a funny little dog. Unfortunately I don't bring Torre with me anywhere unless Evan is coming. She is just so strong and doesn't listen to me, it normally ends up with me just getting upset at the end of the day. So I've learned to just avoid that situation. We had friends come over that night to watch RSL and the Olympics and I was off to pick up Court. She was peppy and didn't even seem like it had been 24 hours without sleep. She is seriously the greatest. We managed to surprise my Grandma at church the next morning, my Mom was busy snooping through my Dad's phone and saw a text from me saying I had picked her up. So fail Mother, you and snooping self. We did surprise my Grandpa at brunch, overall the whole trip was a huge success. And I got to have my sister to myself for most of the day, I was very selfish with her. Before we knew it the 24 hours had gone so quickly and I was dropping her off again.

Here is the whole family, minus my sister's husband. He wasn't able to make it.

It's so cool to talk to Court about being a doctor. She has accomplished so much. And by the end of all of this she will be in school for 12 years. I can't even wrap my mind around it. And the things she has learned is literally mind boggling. She didn't talk too much about doctor stuff when she was here, but just hearing about a typical night or day at the hospital sounds completely nuts. I'm so proud of her for all her hard work and for Brandons. They both work these crazy shifts and try to make time for family without complaining. I remember ever since Courtney and I were little, like 3 or 4 she has ALWAYS wanted to be a doctor. So it's really neat to see her dreams come true.

On another note, I never blogged about Evan running a half marathon! Huge news that I skipped. I wasn't running this one, because originally I was going to be out of town, then I broke my foot so overall it was meant to be that I didn't run this one. When I'm not training, I've noticed that Evan doesn't train at all for things. And he ate beyond terrible the day before the race. He had Five Guys for lunch, with a huge fry, a Drumstick sundae cone, and then a footlong chili cheese dog for dinner. Let me tell you, if I would've eaten that before I think my insides would've died. I got up to drive everyone at 3:15am and we were off. It was so nice to not have that nervous flip flop of the stomach the entire way there for once. I could tell everyone else was because it was a bit quiet in the car. After dropping everyone off I was just going to sleep in the parking lot, but it literally only took 20 min to get down there so I figured why not drive home and sleep really well. I managed to make it back right in time to see Kerry and Evan pass, but failed to put a memory card in my camera. I seriously suck with technology sometimes. Kerry and Evan looked great, they both smiled and waved and acted like they weren't even tired...oh and did I mention they got 2:01???!!! I love them both, but that is a crazy, fast time. So proud of both of them, the new Howard record. Jeramie got a huge PR too. Everyone did so good on the race. I love doing family things like this, plus it makes us closer too then we already were, which is hard to even imagine.