Rugby Saturday

Dave is starting his 4th season playing for the Los Angeles Rugby Club and he had his first home game today. It was against a team from Arizona and they kicked their butts! :) LARC won like 48-15!!! It was freezing cold outside so Ashley, another rugby fan, and I bundled up as much as we could and still see the game!

Here's Dave, my little #5!

Here is Dave participating in a "Line Out". He's #5, the guy on the white team, way up in the air. And he caught this ball, by the way!

Once the holidays are over, rugby season will start in earnest. He plays his home games at a field in Palos Verdes and he'd love for you to come out and watch a game. His team is really good (they've gone to the national championships the last two years and finished in the top 10!) and so the games are usually really fun to watch. Let us know if you want to come out and root for LARC!

Dave's new endeavour

Dave and his good friends Matt, Erik and Tim bought a  longboard skateboard company a few months back and are ready to launch the new products and website to the public. They have put a lot of time and energy into this company and we are all super proud of them. Please check it out and pass it on if you know anyone who wants a board. www.ashlandskateboards.com

New Restaurant in town

Dave and I went out on a date last night and tried a new sushi place a couple blocks from our house. It is so new that it hasn't even taken down the old restaurant's sign yet, but it is where the old Sonoya used to be on Artesia. It was taken over by a Japanese family and they've remodeled the inside and were having a soft opening this week. We highly recommend going here and supporting our local economy... and try the "Hulk" roll and mochi ice cream, it was amazing!

I'll try to post a picture and the actual name and location of the restaurant when they get the new sign up because I'm not even sure what their new name will be! .

Shout out to a great chef!

My sister Sarah has always been a great cook. She got a head start with it as a kid because she got to spend time with our Grandma baking while the rest of us were at school. Her favorite thing is baking but she's branching out and becoming a great cook as well. Here is a shout out to her accomplishments....

Most people come to visit us and just want to go grab some bagels and coffee... not Sarah! She (and Dave) had been craving these banana macadamia nut pancakes with coconut syrup that we had in Hawaii this summer. So we made them a few weekends ago!

Sarah's crowning achievement is her sweet potato casserole that she serves at Thanksgiving. It was especially awesome this year so I had to take a picture of it. 

Way to go Sarah! Keep it up because someone has to learn all of Grandma's pie recipes too!

Thanksgiving with the Hardens

We were able to go home last week and enjoy Thanksgiving with my (Megan's) family. We were able to see some good friends (Jim & Amanda) and go wine tasting in Lodi with Mike & Crista (pictures to follow). We ate a ton of good food and just enjoyed being able to spend time relaxing with family. 

My family has a tradition (ok, ok, they have LOTS of traditions) but every year on the day after Thanksgiving we drive to Twain Harte and chop down our own Christmas tree. We've been going to the same  place for like 20 years. We actually stopped buying trees there about ten years ago because they resemble the Charlie Brown trees, but we continued to go because it was a fun day outside and we took our commemorative picture on the "big rock". This year we vetoed the fake-cutting-down-a-tree/drive-a-long-way-to-take-a-picture-on-a-rock to instead drive a long way to walk up and down the streets of Columbia! We always have a great time and even found some new places to take pictures in front of. 

Do I feel another tradition coming on??? :)

Here we are in front of the very popular "red wagon". How fun!

The crazy Harden kids by the lovely gazebo.

There are many rocks to be climbed and Dave did his impression of Cliffhanger/I'm dying.

The whole gang.

Fun times. Thanks everyone for such a great trip home! Love you all & miss you!

Halloween Fun (part 2)

Last night we were able to attend the Svendson's annual pumpkin carving party! We had so much fun eating snacks and attempting to be as creative as Reddoor. Here's Becky and Sheri and me before voting for the best/worst pumpkins of the night.

There were 11 pumpkins up for the contest. Can you tell which one Dave carved? :)

If you chose the one with "3 stripes" then you would be right! You would also be picking the "worst" pumpkin of the night. Apparently straight lines aren't creative enough for this group! 

We had so much fun! Thanks Erik and Nicole, and Siena too!

Halloween Fun

Yesterday at school we had our annual "Harvest Festival"! (Yes, I know it's a week early but I have no control over the dates.) I got points with my students for dressing up (ladybug wings $7 at Party City!) and Dave got points with me for showing up for our chaotic day. The kids had a great time and we even had a baby camel in our petting zoo...what more could you ask for?

The Goldilocks problem

Those of you who know Dave know that he's a pretty big guy. On our recent errands around town he has managed to find some rather unusual chairs that he has decided we should add to our furniture collection. I see this more as an opportunity for a good laugh!

Here is Dave in the only piece of furniture that we've ever found that is "TOO BIG" for him.

And here he is demonstrating how most furniture is "too small" for him.

Oktoberfest

In Torrance, there is a place called Alpine Village that holds an Oktoberfest celebration every September/October. This past Friday, 20 of our closest friends journeyed the distance to far away Torrance and imbibed in some German festivities. Dave was able to bring along his stein from last year, but my favorite part was the giant pretzels. They were so good! We had a ton of fun singing, and talking and doing the chicken dance over and over and over. 

Reason #278 why we love the South Bay... the fun and random events that are always going on!

Swing Dancing!

Dave and I have joined a group of young married couples at our church. We've been meeting every other Sunday night for fellowship, Bible study and fun. This summer we took a little hiatus and met up for fun outings. The last one before our new groups started up was a swing dancing class! We took over an entire dance studio in El Segundo and learned to dance. It was a blast! Here's a (small) group shot of us and our "jazz hands". 

Dave and I have started a Bible study in our home with 6 other couples from this group and we're so excited to see what God is doing through this group of awesome people.

Tim & Sheri's Wedding

On September 13th, two of our very good friends got married! It was one of the best weddings we have ever been to (besides our own, of course!). Tim & Sheri are special to us because they were some of the first people that we ever really spent time with when we moved to Redondo. We even went with them on one of their first dates. We went to a UCLA v USC basketball game (UCLA won, sorry Sheri!) and then to Diddy Reise for dessert aftewards. A very smart man (that we met while standing in line) said that "Tim and Sheri go together like gin and juice" and now the rest is history. Here are some fun shots of us having a great time at their wedding. Thanks Shannon and Facebook for letting us borrow these :)

The boys in front of our party van!

Dave & I

All the fun girl pictures. 

Dave went out of town on business last week and sometimes I let Hannity sleep with me to keep me company. One morning she woke me up really early but I had to snap this picture and send it to Dave so he knew what he was missing while he was gone. 

Avila Beach

A couple of weekends ago we went to Avila Beach to celebrate our 2nd anniversary. We met up with our friends Jon & Jen from Bakersfield and had a lot of fun riding our bikes, eating good food and enjoying the nice weather.

One night we went to dinner at a restaurant that was hosting a wedding reception. The DJ announced the "money dance" and Dave and Jon were so excited that they jumped up and got a picture of Dave dancing with the bride! 

Concert in the park

Manhattan Beach has a concert series that runs through the summer on Sunday nights. We have really enjoyed meeting up with friends, bringing some dinner and a bottle of wine and enjoying the beautiful Socal weather. Last night we rode our bikes to Polliwog Park and met up with our friends Tim & Sheri, the Andersons and the Svendsens. We listened to some great reggae music, ate some good food and chased around their two precious little girls.

By the end of the night Tim and Dave were very tired!

Reason #300 that we love living in Redondo Beach: 

There is always something fun (and usually free!) that we can go to with friends!

The Crawfish Festival

This past Saturday we joined the Blankenships at the annual Long Beach Crawfish Festival! Angela is from Louisiana, so she found out when and where this festival was and we have been hearing about this awesome delicacy for months now. Once there we were given a heaping plate of crawfish which we had to peel and eat. Here is Dave showing off the little creatures.

Adam was a good sport and helped show us the proper way to eat them.
Angela did the work for me and I ate one, but let's just say that I really enjoyed my jambalaya! Here is the finished product...
We love doing new things, so thanks Adam and Angela for showing us the wonderful world of Louisiana cooking!

New Camera

I got a new camera!!! My parents got us a new digital camera for my birthday/our anniversary. We are super excited to get outside and use it now. These next couple of pictures are from our trip to Modesto last weekend. We got to test out the camera at the birthday celebration for me and for Sarah (we were born three days apart so we always celebrate together).

Here is Dave in the pool with Hannity, pretending that she enjoys the water.

Our family picture in the pool. This is right before Hannity decided to make a swim for it!
Dad doing what he does best at parties...grill up the meat! It was great as always, but I was dissapointed when we got home Sunday night and my mom hadn't packed any leftover meat in our "to go" bags. I guess we'll have to do some grilling at our house soon too.
My sister Sarah, posing in the backyard. I can't wait for her to move down to Socal this month!!
Last but not least, a picture of our niece Ashley. We only get to see her every few months but she is growing up so fast! She was really enjoying the pool on Saturday but she stood still long enough for me to snap this picture. Isn't she sweet?
It was a fun filled weekend, but they always go by too fast. Thanks family for all the fun and food!

Hawaii

We went to Hawaii in June with my family. We spent five days in Oahu and five more in Maui. It was the perfect weather and we had so much fun!

Here we are in front of Matsumoto's Shace Ice. It is the best and completely worth the drive to the North Shore.

Here is the whole family at Pearl Harbor. Most people go and see the Arizona and leave, but not the Hardens! We got the four pack to see the Arizona, the Missouri, the submarine and the maritime museum. It was a long day, but it gave us a very good historical perspective of the beginning of WWII (the bombing of the USS Arizona) to the end (the signing of the treaty on the decks of the USS Missouri). 

This is the surfer statue in downtown Waikiki. This was the last picture we were able to take before our camera broke! I am still trying to get more pictures from the rest of our trip so I will post more later...

Ashland Skateboards

Did I mention that we bought a skateboard company? 

A few months ago Dave and some friends from church bought a skateboard company that makes longboard skateboards called Ashland. You should check it out:

ashlandskateboards.com

Another Try

Here is a look at our lives since I posted last December....

In January we went to Santa Barbara for a rugby game (LARC won!) and to celebrate my mom's birthday. We were able to stop at a little winery that Matt & Becky recommended and it was really cute. We had a couple of photo opportunities before we went inside to do some tasting.

The photographer in me couldn't pass up this amazing oak tree in the driveway!
In May I was able to sneak away for a girls weekend in San Diego. It was so much fun to relax and get some much needed girl time.
In June Sarah graduated from high school!!! We are so proud of her. And the best part is that she is going to Azuza Pacific University which means she will be near us. I can't wait!