We're here!

Brad and I are officially Californian's... well I've always been one, but now we both are! We moved into our townhouse in Walnut Creek/Concord almost two weeks ago, and it has been a whirlwind ever since. We are excited about our new ward, and already have callings! I am a ward missionary, and my "companion" is a new convert who is recently married and about our age. Brad is a Sunday School teacher for the 17/18 year olds, and I am his co-teacher. Our class will consist of seniors, preparing for college, missions, etc. and we are excited for the opportunity to be involved in their lives.

Our days, so far, have consisted of unpacking, buying odds and ends, mastering the BART (the subway system here), sight seeing, and job hunting (me). We were able to spend last Tuesday in the city and were able to see Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, China Town, In n Out, and the Bay Bridge. Brad's brother Spencer drove out with us and stayed for about 4 days to help us get settled, so he was able to go with us downtown. We had fun, but I will admit I felt more like a tourist than actually thinking I live here now!

Last Thursday-Monday Brad and I were able to fly down to Escondido and visit with my family. It was by brother's mission farewell and since Brad hadn't started his job yet, we spent a few days with everybody. We had a great time that included: swimming, Giant NY pizza, a family temple session, Islands, Batman, Cruisin Grand, Wild Animal Park, lots of extended family, and Escape from Wild Cat Canyon :) (Dad, you know what I mean!) The only downside to the trip: our 5 hour delay in the SD Airport because of fog in SF. No fun!!

Brad started his job on Tuesday and is loving it so far... but its only been orientation and training. I'm sure he'll love it more next week when he actually starts working! But they have provided breakfast and lunch everyday, and are taking them out to dinner tonight. So, I couldn't complain either.

We are excited to be out here. I'll be even more excited once I find a job and start bringing in some income. We miss all of our family but know this is where we are supposed to be right now!

Some pictures from the last week or so:


Brad and our dear Penske truck


Spencer living out his childhood dream- a true Transformer


Our family room


The kitchen
(That's all of the home pictures for now... we are still working on the rest!)


Bay Bridge


How could I forget when the street performer pulled Brad onstage to form a human chair?



If you look, you can see that all four chairs have been removed and the guys are supporting themselves. Pretty cool, but the best part was that the guy called Brad "UTAH" the whole time.



Spencer's Chinese pose in China Town.

I haven't uploaded our pictures from Escondido with my family, or from Chris and Angela's wedding. That is another post for another day (or tonight!)

Homeless...

Brad and I have been homeless this past week as we moved out of our apartment in Provo and have been staying with his family. We are frantically preparing for Chris and Angela's wedding tomorrow, reception Friday, and our big move to California on Saturday. Wish us all luck with these next couple of BUSY days!

Camping!

Last weekend we went camping in the Uintah Mountains about two hours east of Provo. We went with Brad's family as well as Brad's uncle and his family. The weather was perfect, the mountains were green, and the fishing was great......or so Brad says. Here's a couple pictures of our weekend.

North Fork of the Duchesne River

These dead trees look like football posts...kinda

Brad and Spencer drinking Dr Denali's...

This picture is a little too close for my comfort, but oh well! Here we are!

It's official!

We are moving to Concord, CA! We got the green light yesterday from the manager. We will be moving into the Ryan Road Townhouses on July 12. They are two-level, two-bedroom townhouses. It will be about double the size we are living in now here in Provo and also has a dishwasher and full sized stove! Woohoo!! Can you tell I'm excited? Concord is right outside of Walnut Creek and is about thirty minutes outside of the city of SF. Just wanted to spread our fun news!

We are going camping with Brad's extended family this weekend and get back on Sunday just in time to move out of our apartment on Monday! (We are living at Brad's house until we leave). It will be a fun/busy/stressful couple of days!

Here is the outside of our future home:

I've been tagged!

Thanks Niccole, this was fun to do!

What is his name? Bradley Ron Hardcastle

How long have you been together? We met at a BYU football game in October 2005, so that would be 2 ½ years!

How long did you date? We dated for 8 months, were engaged for 4, and have been married for a year and a half!

How old is he? 23, turning 24 on August 29^th.

Who eats more? That’s a complicated one. Brad eats less at a sitting, but eats more times throughout the day. He’s a firm believer of the 6 meals-a-day plan. I am more a 3-meals-a day person. Overall, he does eat more food but I rock him when it comes to dessert. I’m pretty sure that’s not a good thing…

Who said I love you first? He did, but I coaxed it out of him. It had been over six months and I was ready to hear it!

Who is taller? He's taller by 10 inches. No, he’s not even that tall, I’m just 5 ft nothing.

Who can sing better? That would be me. I am the singer and the pianist but I love it when Brad pulls out his guitar. Currently, I am teaching Brad the bass and tenor parts of hymns and he’s getting better! I know he has a great voice, he just hides it.

Who is smarter? Brad takes language, business, grammar, history, art, and ‘street smarts’. But I take math and science! I better after four years of chemistry, biology, organic chemistry, biochemistry, physics, anatomy, physiology, and all those nutrition classes! I think we balance each other quite well!

Who does the laundry? We trade off weeks. But the other always helps fold.

Who pays the bills? I do.

Who sleeps on the right side? That would be Brad. And we’re pretty much stuck that way- even when we are camping or visiting family. We always take our respective sides.

Who mows the lawn? We don’t have one! But once we do, that will be Brad. He will take care of the yard, garden, landscaping, etc. I have a brown thumb.

Who cooks dinner? I do, unless it’s breakfast or meat. That’s Brad’s area of expertise. We always cook together on Sundays.

Who drives? He always does, unless I am dropping him off somewhere. I haven’t done much driving in the marriage, which is probably why Brad is nervous for me to be driving by myself to SF, but he’ll be following in the moving truck. No need to worry dear!

Who is more stubborn? We are probably pretty even on that. Could it be the oldest child syndrome taking over? Brad takes less time to apologize or get over things. I tend to drag things out.

Who kissed who first? Brad did. We had just gotten back from a marathon 8-hour date in Salt Lake City. It was a couple days before Valentine’s day and he was so cute about it!

Who proposed? Bradley! It was August 21, 2006 at La Jolla Shores.

Who has more friends? That would be Brad. He had like 15 guys his age in his ward at church. Talk about instant friends. I on the other hand, have a handful of very close friends. He has also kept in better contact with his buddies since getting married. It might have something to do with the fact that we only live 45 minutes from where he grew up, but I do get jealous that after all these years they still get together. (See previous post for proof!)

Who is more sensitive? Hello, that would be me! I don’t know how Brad can put up with it half of the time. (And he didn’t grow up with sisters to prepare him!) But he is surprisingly patient and understanding. That’s why I love him!

Who has more siblings? Me. I have 4 brothers and 1 adorable sister. Brad is the oldest of 3- all boys.

Who wears the pants? Brad does, and I am quite okay with that.

Hope you enjoyed getting to know my hubby a little better. I tag anyone who reads the blog and wants to be tagged ;) Have fun!

Salt Lake City Classic

My posts are a little out of order, but oh well. On Saturday Brad and I spent the day with friends and family at the Salt Lake Classic Volleyball Tournament. It was a hot day but it was a blast! Playing in this tournament has been a tradition for Brad and his buddies for almost 10 years now. The guys all play, and all of us adoring fans get to eat yummy food and sit in the shade. Not a bad gig for either group! Brad played with his good friend Ben Hansen and they had a fun time. They missed the playoff round (or whatever you call it) by two points, but Brad wasn't too disappointed because he had enough cuts, bruises, and calluses for one day. This was Brad's last tournament before we move, so we were glad he was able to play. I forgot our camera (of course!) but here are some pictures Ben took. Good job Brad!

Sunday Walk

Brad and I decided to go on our traditional Sunday walk last night... but we changed up the scenery. First, we tried Utah Lake but the mosquitoes quickly changed that plan. Then we went up behind the temple to the mountain side. The view was beautiful and the sunset was incredible. A quick update on our move: this is our second to last Sunday in Provo! It is hard to believe four years has gone so quickly. We are excited for our new adventure in SF but it is still hard to leave behind so many friends and memories. We will be moving to a 2 bedroom townhouse in the Walnut Creek area (the actual city is Concord). The ward happens to be one in which a good family friend serves as bishop. It will be nice to see such a familiar face every week. The complex we will be living in is called "Provo West" by those young LDS couples that live there. So maybe Provo isn't going to be as far as we thought ;) Other than packing and trying to get in every last visit with family and friends, we are just working away.
Here are some pictures from last night:


BYU campus











It was a fun night!

Our productive weekend

This was a weekend of "FIRST"s for the Hardcastle's:

1. Lauren worked extra M-Th and Brad took PTO so we could take our FIRST Friday off EVER. No work, no school, no obligations. It was, simply put, amazing. We slept in, made a delicious breakfast of fruit, pancakes, and eggs, and then enjoyed the afternoon. We went to Costco to get prints from our cruise to put in the photo album we puchased in Honduras. We also had frozen yogurt (Lo) and a hotdog (Brad) for lunch. Gotta love Costco! Later that afternoon, Brad went to a discussion with a Korean family who is investigating the church. He loves being a little missionary! Then we had our FIRST barbeque dinner with corn on the cob, baked beans, BBQ chicken, and potato salad. The evening ended with a trip to Color me Mine. This is a sweet little place in Provo where you pick out ceramic pieces like plates, cups, bowls, etc. and paint them. They fire the piece for you, and you pick it up about three days later. Brad and I went here two years ago when we were just dating and had a fun time. I figured we needed to go back before we moved and make a second piece! We haven't picked up cup yet, but are pretty sure it will look fabulous. Here is a picture from our FIRST trip two years ago:

Doesn't Brad look thrilled?

2. I, Lauren, gave Brad a haircut. I have done it twice before, but Brad's mom (the professional hairdresser :) always comes in at the end and fixes up my *work*. This was the FIRST time I did it all on my own, with no help from anyone. I know most of you will not quite understand just how amazing this feat was, but let me explain Brad's hair: blond and straight. Ie: shows every flaw, every mistake. His hair is the hardest to cut I have ever tried. Needless to say I am pretty proud of my success!

This was the best picture he would give me. After an hour of me spraying him with the water bottle and pulling his hairs with the scissors, I don't blame him.

3. Brad and I (with much help from his Dad) refinished our FIRST dresser! I found it posted on the KSL classifieds for $10.00. And believe me, when we picked it up, it looked like a $10.00 dresser! It had a hole in the left side, was missing half of the handles, and had a broken drawer. However, after one trip to Home Depot all was well again. We fixed the hole with a whole new piece of wood, fixed the track for the drawer, staple gunned all other loose fitting joints, sanded, painted, and put on new handles, . (Okay, so Brad and his Dad did 90% of this and all I did was sand and paint...) And this is the finishing product:

Here it is! And I could kick myself for not getting a before picture. Oh well.

4. Finally, this was the FIRST time Brad and I took a picture of ourselves before church. Okay, so it doesn't really fit with the rest of our accomplishments, but I just wanted an excuse to post the picture.

Brad's 15 mins of fame

Although this picture was taken almost a month ago, I need to put it up. Brad went to the 50th year anniversay for Sharon Elementary School with his friend Marcus. (Marcus's wife Brittany is a teacher there). They got a yummy free dinner and also got to take a picture with Harvey Unga. For all you BYU football fans out there, Unga was the freshman running back that was absolutely amazing for the Cougars. Needless to say Brad was stoked for the picture.

Brad, Unga, Marcus, and Brittany

Memorial Weekend...

This past Memorial Weekend (yes, almost two weeks ago!) Brad and I braved the stormy Utah weather and went camping with our good friends the Bakers! We went to Hobble Creek in Springville, and the weather report for the whole weekend said rain, thunder, and lightening. But we didn't care! And it turned out wonderful- maybe a total of 15 minutes of rain the whole time. We were so glad we decided to go! It was nice to get away from Provo for a couple days and just relax. We kept busy with delicious tin foil dinners, starbursts, watching Brad fish, going shooting, playing some softball, and just hanging out around our camp. Speaking of which, our camp was huge! Brad and I were able to get to the campsite early on Friday and got the best campsite. It was at the end, completely secluded from all other campers, and right next to the creek.
Here are some pictures from the trip!

Brad fishing near the lake

Staying warm near the fire/eating our delicious tin-foil dinners! YUM!
Playing softball. You can see our huge campsite in the back.

Brad doing a little shooting

Me doing a little shooting. Although I was a little nervous, it was so fun!

Brad went on a hike for this beautiful view

We are so excited to be camping!

Needless to say Brad and I are excited to move close to the lovely California beaches, but sad to leave the beautiful Utah mountains. We will definitely miss having them so close.