Life as we know it...

...is about to change.

I guess I should preface this post with this: the change does not include adding a little human to our family (not yet:). Basically, life has been a steady whirlwind since the beginning of the school year. Daron has juggled his full-time job with freelance work along with coaching tennis and basketball, with an ACL surgery somewhere in the middle. I have been juggling my job with directing Mountain Lab (8th grade camp), event managing athletic events at TCA, and tutoring after school. Recently, I looked back at the calendar for the past couple months, and it was a rare occurrence to find a day void of any extra duties. Then I slowly lifted the calendar to March and was in almost a disbelief as I scanned the stark white page. For pretty much all of our married life, we have either been coaching a sport or in grad school on top of our full-time jobs. This time brings about a mix of emotions on my part. I thrive on deadlines, efficiency, multi-tasking, crossing things off my list, and a blank calendar is not conducive to accomplishing those things. When I first realized that the life as we knew it was about to change, I told Daron that we should volunteer somewhere or get involved in something else, but he just shook his head and smiled at me.

As I have pondered what this change will look like the past couple days, I have come to the conclusion that my goal is to be still. This will involve more time sitting in front of a fire versus crashing in front of the TV, more time preparing healthy meals versus finding whatever is easy and quick to make, more time in God's Word versus reading facebook posts or DIY projects on pinterest, more time reflecting and praying for wisdom for decisions to come versus rushing through life without taking the time to be still.

This past year I read the book "Freedom From Darkness" by Neil Anderson with my small group, which talks about how Satan is the king of deception. I think, actually I know, that I am often deceived by the American ideal that more is better. So often we speed through life with color-coded calendars that keep us continuously running from one responsibility to the next. As Americans, we are inundated by messages that more events on the calendar, more friends, more job responsibilities, more money, more __________ equals a successful life. I was at a literacy conference in Denver a couple weekends ago, and I had the opportunity to meet Gary Paulsen (author of many YA books such as "The Hatchet"). I was ecstatic to say the least because not only had I loved his books growing up, but Daron had his first "lost in a book" experience while reading "The Haymeadow" in 4th grade, and many of my reluctant readers at school love his books as well. As I sat eagerly on the edge of my seat at his session on becoming a writer, my heart dropped as he basically said that in order to be a true writer, one must hold writing above everything else in this world and cut ties with religion, family, and friends. He was a very bitter old man who spent most of his time by himself in the wilderness trying to find hope in his writing. I realized at that moment that this person, who is held in high esteem by many, including myself, has no hope outside of Christ. How many people do I see throughout my day have no hope? What am I actually doing about it? How is my life a reflection of Christ to those I come into contact with? These are the things I want to ponder and wrestle with during this time and continually throughout my life here on this earth.

Caught on the treadmill

You know when you feel like life is a treadmill and it just keeps going and you can't get off? That is what the last couple months have felt like, and I believe that, as of right now, we have stepped off of the treadmill (more to come about this in our next post). Daron had the opportunity to coach JV basketball with our friend, Kevin, this season, and it was a great experience. Daron enjoyed the freedom of not being the head coach and the opportunity to share his passion for basketball with the boys on the team. They had a winning season with an 11-5 record. I worked at almost all of the girls and boys junior high and high school basketball games this season either doing the books or event managing, so we were at least in the same gym on the nights that he had games at TCA. And yes, if I do not see another basketball game for the next couple months of my life, I would be completely content. But, who am I kidding, March Madness is just around the corner, and if you know Daron, you know what that means:) Last week was the JV team's last game, so life will be a little different around the Short house the next couple months.

We have tried to make it outside as much as possible this season, including hikes at Garden of the Gods and Spruce Mountain Open Space, to try to slow down, spend time together, and work on restrengthening Daron's ACL. For Valentine's Day, Daron took me on a surprise date night to Carrabba's and a Mat Kearney concert at the Black Sheep (an intimate little venue) in Colorado Springs. He also planned a surprise weekend away to Aspen last weekend (yes, two surprises in one week!). On Saturday morning we woke up early to drive to Aspen and it was snowing pretty heavily here in Colorado Springs, but as soon as we hit Woodland Park it cleared up and was sunny and in the upper 40s when we got to Aspen. We spent some time snowshoeing around the Maroon Bells area; unfortunately, we didn't make it to the lake, but we still had a fun time in the snow. From there we went to our hotel on Main Street (Annebelle Inn), which had an awesome hot tub on the roof that overlooked the mountains. At night they even show skiing movies on a screen next to the hot tub, but we had plans that night to volunteer at the merchandise table at the Mat Kearney concert (yes, two Mat Kearney concerts within 3 days!). We actually had a blast at the concert and the venue, called Belly Up, was really neat. On Sunday we headed to the Hanging Lake trailhead in Glenwood Canyon. It was a beautiful hike up into the canyon starting out with sunny skies that turned into light, fluffy snow by the time we reached the lake and by the time we made it back down again it had turned back to sunny skies. One of my gifts for Valentine's Day was a set of yak trax, which hook to the bottom of your shoes to give traction in the snow, so they came in really handy on the trail to the lake. Overall we had a fantastic weekend, although Daron was dreaming of skiing most of the time.



Garden of the Gods


Siamese Twins








Aspen Trip














This past weekend we hosted a "Night of Love" party to celebrate Valentine's Day with some of our friends. It was a chocolate theme, so I made chocolate molten lava cake with raspberry sauce along with chocolate covered strawberries and chocolate toffee. Since I knew we would need some salty to balance out the sweet, I also made homemade popcorn. Yesterday we were able to spend some time with our friends from Michigan, Brett and Jess, who were in Denver. We wandered around the 16th Street Mall and then had dinner at Illegal Pete's, a fun burrito place on 16th street. As we were walking back to our car, I couldn't resist stopping at The Cheesecake Factory for a piece of Adam's Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple cheesecake.

Night of Love group






In Denver w/ Jess and Brett

3,421 miles + 85 friends & family = The Midwest Tour

Finally, it is time to move on from the grotesque picture of Daron's knee and on to our busy, but incredible, Midwest Tour. Here are some highlights from each state (in no particular order):

INDIANA:
Watching the Crossroads Classic basketball games- Butler/Purdue and Indiana/Notre Dame
Playing the new disc golf course @ the park
Bowling
Walking to the park with Sawyer, Ben, and Belle
Watching the traditional "Christmas Vacation" movie
Enjoying coffee made by "barista Daron" with his new French press











MICHIGAN:
Creating gingerbread houses (and eating a little candy while we were at it)
Flying a remote-control airplane at the park
Reading books and playing dolls with our beautiful nieces
Playing the disc golf course at Garfield Park
Catching up with extended family and high school friends
















OHIO:
Touring Akron, Ohio with Josh and Kristi with a special stop at Swenson's for dinner
Playing euchre (the girls had an awesome comeback!)
Enjoying time with the Short family
Introducing Belle to her first feline friend-Buckeye





INDIANA:
Relaxing at Molly's cottage on Lake George
Eating incredible cuisine made by Molly (including the best homemade ice cream EVER!)
Reconnecting with college friends (plus the newest (and cutest) addition- Ms. Whitney)
Watching the Indiana/Ohio State game at Erika's house

A Season for Slowing down

Daron's ACL surgery on October 12th officially marked a much needed season of slowing down for the Short family. The surgery went very well and his recovery is going a lot smoother than we anticipated. We even made it to the state tennis tournament on the 14th and 15th to see Air Academy take 4th in the state and win the sportsmanship award, which was a huge accomplishment after a rough season last year with the boys. The weather this fall has been beautiful and the trees have been brilliantly colored because of the high levels of moisture this year. I have become slightly addicted to pinterest, which has resulted in a lot of cooking and baking. For some reason I have always been a little intimidated by soup recipes, but this fall I have really enjoyed experimenting with making stock from scratch and trying my hand at lots of different soups. To celebrate fall to the fullest, we had an Oktoberfest party with some of our friends complete with delectable fall foods, pumpkin carving, and a backyard bonfire. Belle suffered through another Halloween this year as a "watchdog." We continued our tradition with the Betz's by having a fire in their driveway and handing out candy. We are really looking forward to visiting the Midwest for Thanksgiving and Christmas, which are quickly approaching!

1 week after surgery. Looking pretty good, eh?


Oktoberfest with friends.






Playing in the leaves.


Belle's Halloween costume.

Fall Backpacking Trip with the boys

My hiking buddies from work and I had been looking forward to this trip for quite some time. Another trip to the San Juan's was in order as our final excursion of the year. Uncompahgre, Wetterhorn and Matterhorn were the peaks we were after. We packed up the cars early Saturday morning and headed for the scenic route along the Silver Thread Scenic Byway to Lake City. The forecast had turned quite precarious over the past week and we knew we'd be in for some precip on this trip. After lunch at Poker Alice in Lake City, we headed out on the dirt road towards the trailhead. It was misting/raining steadily and we were not looking forward to packing in to camp in the wet weather. We met the 4x4 junction and I decided to give it a shot in the Subaru. As we headed slowly up another couple of miles, the rain gradually turned to snow. By the time we made it to the trailhead it was full on snowing: big wet flakes. We decided to wait it out in the cars for a bit to see if it let up before putting the packs on. Most of us got a great little snooze in and after 30 minutes or so, the snow was letting up and the sun started to poke through! We eagerly put our packs on and headed out into the wilderness. After setting up camp, we were anxious to get out and try to knock off Matterhorn (a 13,590' peak situated right between Wetterhorn & Uncompahgre). The hike took longer than anticipated with the fresh snowfall, but it was quite gorgeous. Very peaceful and serene. Due to the late hour and fresh snow, we were the only hikers within miles. There were still some clouds swirling around the mountains and the sun was setting, so after summiting we pranced through the snow back down to camp and ate our freeze dried meals. The next day we woke up later than expected when no one heard the alarm that was set. It was probably a good thing in the end. We needed the rest after our late night summit. After breakfast we headed out towards Uncompahgre. Because of the snow we were able to try a shorter (albeit harder) approach up a loose talus slope. It wasn't the most fun part of the hike, but it did save us some time (also zapped a lot of energy). We all reached the summit around 11:30 and decided that a combo summit of Wetterhorn probably wasn't in the cards for us. We were wet, tired, and hungry and the previous day's snow would make a Wetterhorn summit much more complicated than dry conditions. The scenery was splendid though. Fresh snow in the San Juans, the sun shining down to warm our cheeks against the crisp summit breeze. We soaked it in for a good 30 minutes while coming up with a new game plan. Our new idea was to try and head over to Ouray and hit the hot springs. The problem was there is no easy way to get there and the snow would make the passes nearly impassable. We headed down the mountain enjoying the beauty and thinking of what our options were. After making it back to camp, all of our boots were soaked through and we were feeling pretty miserable about the idea of spending another night on the frosty ground. In the end, we decided to pack up camp right away and pack out. We made it back to the cars around 4:00 PM and headed back to Lake City for a hot meal. After some great BBQ we started the long trek back to C/S and made it home around 11:00 PM. A long day for sure, but a great weekend. We're all looking forward to getting back to this gorgeous area to tackle Wetterhorn in the future.

upon arriving at the TH


fresh snowfall.


Belle's packed up.


more snow.


summit of Matterhorn.


sunset behind Wetterhorn.


talking routes up Uncompahgre.


Wetterhorn & Matterhorn profiles


heading up Uncompahgre's slopes


summit shot with the boys.


summit shot with Belle.


heading down, peak securely in bag.




packed up and out.


great day in the mountains!