Bathroom Makeover

This past week we had the pleasure of having Daron's dad out here to help us with our bathroom projects. Our inspiration for this project was the fact that our guest bathroom floor had a resounding squeak whenever someone was in there, even in the shower the floor squeaked! So, we decided to just gut the whole guest bathroom and do some upgrading in our bathroom to give them a fresh look. We decided to keep both of the vanities and have Daron's dad make us new doors. They turned out beautifully! We sanded and stained our vanity and painted the guest bathroom vanity white. Daron was thrilled to be able to work all week with his dad and learn new handyman skills for future projects. It is great to finally have our bathrooms back together and it is exciting to see how all our ideas came together in both bathrooms. Daron's first day at CMA is tomorrow, so he is ready to start a new phase in his career journey.

Master Bath- before


Master Bath- after


Guest Bath- before


during


Daron the Demo Dude


Getting there


Done!




The crew


To see all of the before/during/after photos follow THIS LINK.

The JOB

This past Friday, after sweating it out waiting to hear from C&MA for the past 4 days and at 8:00 p.m. no less, Daron found out that he will be joining the staff of The Christian & Missionary Alliance as a Senior Graphic Designer! He is very excited to be able to join their design team and be a part of their organization. It is also (hopefully) possible for him to do some photography around the world documenting missionaries in the field. One of his former co-workers from ACSI also works at CMA, so he is looking forward to working with him again as well. We are really excited for Daron to move on to this great environment. His first day will be February 1st, so he has a couple weeks off to finish up some freelance work and lots of odds and ends that need to be done before tennis season starts. We are also really looking forward to having Daron's dad out here on Saturday for a week to hang out and work on our now demolished bathroom. Yesterday we tore everything out, which went smoother than we anticipated (not typical for a Short house project). This past weekend we headed up to the crags to do some hiking since the weather has been so amazing the past couple weeks. We had a beautiful hike, but then on the way down the winding forest road it was like ice skating in our Subaru. It took us 2 hours to go 3 miles because people kept sliding off the 2-track road and it was impossible to get around anyone. We made some new friends and learned some new methods for helping people back on the road. As I was walking down to another car, during one of the slide-offs, I slipped on the ice and fell right on my tailbone. It is still incredibly sore, but hopefully I will be able to sit down without wincing soon! Today was the start of the second semester at TCA; it is crazy to think that the year is already half over! I start my grad classes next week, so I have one more week to enjoy not having homework!

DEMO-DAY!


Crags (in our new jackets we got for Christmas!)

Holiday Hoopla

We began our holiday journey on Friday, December 18, and headed to Nebraska to see Andrew, Darcy, and Daraby. The rest of my family also met us out there, so it was great to have time with the whole family in the beautiful Nebraska countryside. Daraby is getting so much bigger and is starting to say some words (one of her favorites is "Abby"). Abby, their springer spaniel, had puppies 6 weeks before we came. They were incredibly adorable and Belle loved having lots of playmates. We enjoyed a hay ride with their friends to "cake" the cows. Daron had his first experience driving their team of horses (Jim & Sarah). From Nebraska we headed to Indiana to see Daron's family. Daron enjoyed playing tennis with his high school coach and we had a great Christmas with his family. From Indiana we headed up north to Michigan to spend some time with my family. We got to see my high school friends, which was a blast to catch up and reconnect. On Christmas we spent the day with the Boersma side. In 1999, everyone on the Boersma side filled out a paper about their predictions for 10 years in the future, so we opened the time capsule this year and laughed a lot at what we wrote. I predicted that we would have pills instead of syringes, so it was a little disappointing to realize my prediction has not come true. We also enjoyed our Boersma family tradition of creating gingerbread houses and had a fabulous Christmas with them. From Michigan we headed to Ohio to see Daron's extended family. Daron was the proud winner of the annual Short family ping-pong tournament. Daron and Tyler played tennis and I got to join in on a Cardio Tennis class, which was great. Huntington, Indiana was our next stop on the tour. The girls and guys split up to have sleep-overs, which was a lot of fun. The boys were able to stay at the Pool House, the house Daron lived in his senior year, and stayed up until 5:30 am playing NBA Jam and whatever else boys do for 12 continual hours together. We had a great New Year's Eve in Huntington and then headed back to Indianapolis for New Year's Day. Daron's parents were an incredible help watching Belle while we did our Midwest tour. She was spoiled with new toys, long walks to the park, and plenty of attention. We had such an incredible time reconnecting with friends and family. It was hard to leave, but it felt great to be back in our own bed.

Boersma clan on our hayride.


driving the horses back to the stall.


puppies!


love Ben's ears!


curious.


remember being that little, Belle?


Aunt Rach and Daraby.


Dad's new headlamp. Lookin' good.


Mom, Erika and Rach.


Friends.


NBA JAM Tournament.


Miller and Slick on air drums and guitar!


The girls.


Mah Boys!

Crested Butte Getaway

Last weekend we headed out on our (now) annual Crested Butte Christmas Vacation. This is the second year we've taken this trip to Crested Butte and stayed in the Elk Mountain Lodge. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, they have a stay & ski FREE deal so we are making a habit of taking advantage of it. We arrived on Friday afternoon to clear skies and chilly air. After dropping our stuff off, we headed up to the mountain for some afternoon skiing. There was hardly anyone out which was nice. When we were about to get on our first lift, the chair attendant says to Rachael, "Nice vintage skis! I think I have a pair of those hanging over my fireplace." It was classic! She is looking forward to getting new skis for Christmas to avoid the common embarrassment of people pointing out that her skis are older than their grandkids. Later that night we went out to The Secret Stash for the best wings and pizza in town. The next day went something like this: sleep in, eat breakfast, relax, ski, ski, eat lunch, ski, shower, Christmas parade, steak dinner, hot tub, go to bed early. It was beautiful. The next day we headed out after breakfast to try and beat the snowstorm. We made it to Monarch Pass before it settled in on top of us. Now we are covered in cold and snow back home (Rachael had another well-timed snow day today). Less than 2 weeks until we head out on our trek back to the Mid-west!

ready for the slopes.


Rachael's ancient boots.


watch out.


the view.


skiing!


Rachael's birthday gifts (new boots & skinny jeans, apparently they're all the rage these days).


everyone rides bikes in CB...


...even in negative temps & snow!


crazy little house/coffee shop covered in old license plates.






until next year Elk Mtn. Lodge.

Turkey Travel

We had an incredible time visiting friends and family over Thanksgiving break. I was very thankful to have the whole week off from school, so I spent Monday decorating the house (against Daron's wishes that Christmas stuff should not be out before Thanksgiving) and most of my time doing grad school work so I wouldn't have to worry about it on vacation. We flew into Indianapolis on Tuesday afternoon and enjoyed seeing Erika's beautiful new house. It was great to spend time with Daron's family and just relax at their place on Wednesday. Wednesday night we headed down to Kentucky to stay with Daron's grandparents. We always enjoy taking long walks around his grandpa's farm and even visiting his donkey named Charlie. He was super friendly and when we walked away he started he-hawing at us really loud- it was quite the sound. We enjoyed tons of great food on Thanksgiving with the Smith's extended family. On Friday we headed to Columbus, Ohio to spend some time with our college friends, Emily and Ryan. We had a fantastic time just having quality time together. I got to have my first experience eating at a Japanese steak house, which was great. Emily and I decided we needed to get matching outfits, so we got to do a little shopping as well. Josh and Kristi were able to come over on Saturday to spend some time with us as well, which was fantastic! It was hard to leave on Saturday, but it was comforting to know that we will be back for another Midwest tour in a couple of weeks for Christmas. Belle spent her Thanksgiving with our friend's Annie and Josh and their dog Charlie. She was so worn out that she fell asleep in my lap during the 5 minute drive home! We went to a Christmas tree farm this year to cut down our tree. Let's just say it wasn't like the Christmas tree farms in Michigan- Daron would say we have a very "natural" looking tree. We are very excited to head to Crested Butte on Friday morning for a weekend of skiing and fabulous restaurants for our annual Christmas trip.

somewhere over Nebraska.


our annual walk around grandpa's farm.




modeling.




Charlie.


Smith family.


late night Sequence with the Hollidays.


Emily and Rachael's matching outfits (Miley Cyrus brand, no less).


family photo in front of the Christmas tree.

November Craziness!

This month snuck up on us so fast and now it is flying by. It is crazy to think that Thanksgiving is only a week away! Life is busy as always at the Short house. One big change that has happened in the last couple weeks is that Daron has a new job. This has been quite an adjustment for him (no more Sports Center in the morning, working in pjs, etc). He really enjoyed doing freelance for the past 6 months, but this job seemed like the perfect fit for him, so he decided to go in that direction. He now works for Innovative Learning Concepts, which is a company that develops math curriculums, specifically Touch Based Math. It is a small company, about 15 employees, and it has been around for about 30 years. They have been super flexible with Daron's coaching schedule, which is a huge blessing. Daron is really enjoying coaching at the tennis academy that he helped another coach start called Charlie Hustle Tennis Academy. I am currently drowning in 85 8th grade research papers and all my graduate school work. In the next couple weeks my grad classes will be coming to an end, so it will be nice to have a little break before the next semester classes begin. We are VERY excited to go back to the Midwest for Thanksgiving next week. We will be visiting Daron's family in Indianapolis and then driving down to Kentucky to see his extended family. We are also going to visit some college friends in Columbus, OH. After we get back from the Midwest we will be heading on our Christmas trip to Crested Butte for some spectacular skiing. Then Christmas will be right around the corner! I love this time of year!

Belle's Halloween Costume

So, no go on the pumpkin carving last night. We went to 3 different places to get them, and everywhere was sold out.

This morning we were thinking of what we could dress Belle up as for Halloween (without spending any money). Here is what we came up with...



hmmm...I don't know about this.


Ok guys, not really feeling this "cow-girl" thing. Can we lose the hat, PLEASE!


Howdy Paw-nah!