Dear Friends and Family,

2011 has been a year of change for our family. We started the year with Harley in his last semester of his masters program at USC and Adrienne substitute teaching. Between class, work, and our community involvement we hardly had time to sleep. We kept our noses to the grindstone though as we knew we had exciting changes to look forward to in the coming months!

Over the last couple years we both decided that California was not the place we wanted to spend the rest of our lives and raise a family so had begun plans to make a getaway. We decided the summer would be a good time to make a clean break from the state. After weighing our different options we decided that moving with Harley’s current employer (The Aerospace Corporation) to their Chantilly, Virginia offices would be our best choice.

In April we found ourselves in Northern Virginia for a week to find our future home. The hunt was exciting and stressful at the same time as what appeared to be ideal options came and went. However, we could not have asked for more things to work out for us in the moving endeavor; one evening during our house hunting trip, we were out strolling through what was to be our future neighborhood. We met a neighbor walking her dog and began chatting with her. She ended up being a teacher at a nearby high school. Learning that Adrienne was an early-hire in the district, she offered to introduce Adrienne to the principal of the school in hopes that Adrienne could be selected to work there in the fall. It all worked out in the end as we got the house that is just a couple miles from our two work places and in a great neighborhood.

Upon return from our house hunt in Virginia. Harley worked hard on getting his civil rights organization South Bay Open Carry ready for our departure.Thankfully several strong leaders stepped forward and volunteered to take over the leadership roles. They have continued the work we started and the organization has grown larger than we ever imagined it would.

Before we knew it May was here! Harley finished his masters degree. The celebration that followed allowed us to celebrate with family who came from all the way in Washington, as well as those friends and family close by in Southern California. It was a very long graduation ceremony, but it was followed by a wonderful reception at the home of Harley’s Uncle Marc and Aunt Jeannie in Redondo Beach.

Prior to recovering from the graduation festivities, we were packed up and on the road to Utah, where were to spend a week camping in Zion National Park and a week in Bryce Canyon National Park. The weather report had called for sun, but we were met with a lot of rain and cold weather, and even snow up in the mountains. So we cut our planned two week camping expedition’s losses and ran to the desert. We found refuge in the warm canyons of the Valley of Fire Nevada State Park where we dried out and warmed up in the hot Nevada sun.

With less than a week left before the moving truck was to arrive, we returned home and began our final preparation for the big move. Adrienne did a fantastic job at plotting a course for our cross-country tour.  The trip allowed us to have plenty of stops at interesting points of interest along the way, and included plenty of cities with dog parks for our dogs to play.

We began our week long drive across the country in the beginning of June. Our journey took us across the southern route, passing through Tuscon, AZ; Las Cruces, NM; Austin, TX; New Orleans, LA; Atlanta, GA; and finally to Virginia. We were able to meet some of Adrienne’s high school friends and some family along the way.

The summer months were spent working on our new house. Adrienne had grand plans for the house, which together we worked tirelessly to achieve. We ended up painting the entire interior of the house, replacing all the outdated light fixtures and much more. Since we had moved from a tiny beach bungalow in Hermosa Beach, all our belongings could fit in the living room of our new house. Needing to furnish the rest of the house we spent our weekends hunting through yard sales and swap meets. We acquired a new appreciation for the deals one can get at yard sales this summer as we found many great items at fractions of the cost to buy them new.

This Fall Adrienne began her career as a high school math teacher at Westfield High School, which is just a couple blocks up the street from Harley’s work, the same school she had met the principal at during our house hunting trip! Harley continued working in the same department. Now being based on Chantilly, he has been able to work on a new set of projects that have brought new challenges and opportunity for growth in his career. Of course Adrienne is not to be outdone, so as if starting a new job as a high school math teacher was not a big enough challenge and change, she has now begun a masters program in Education.

As this Christmas season begins we are so thankful for all the blessings we have received this year. Everyday we seem to find new things that make us appreciate being here in Virginia even more; whether it be more affordable cost of living, tax rates that are half what we had in California, a home with three times the space and a great yard that we would never have dreamed of having in a decent neighborhood back in Southern California. We are also thankful for Adrienne’s new job, where none would have been available due to budget shortfalls and layoffs in the once golden state. Despite leaving many wonderful friends and family behind the enemy lines we have felt more than welcome by the new friends we have made here.

It is our sincere hope that you and your family too have had such a blessed 2011 and wish you all the best for 2012!

Merry Christmas!

– Harley, Adrienne, Noah, Molly, and Lando