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!