Dear Friends and Family,

This year has been an amazing whirlwind of adventure for Adrienne, Harley, and our animals (Noah the dog, and our parakeets Lando and Cindel). We started the year enjoying ourselves in Hawaii on our honeymoon for two weeks split between Kauai and Oahu. Shortly after returning from Hawaii we decided it was time to get our own place away from roommates so we moved just down the beach to Hermosa (from Manhattan). It was a perfect opportunity for us to add to our family with the adoption of a fluffy white terrier-mix Noah, whom we adopted from a shelter in Long Beach. Noah is just a bundle of love, always eager to give you kisses, to which I’m sure all of you that have met him can attest.

Over the summer we took a family vacation to Yosemite where we were joined by Yvonne and Lydia. We greatly enjoyed the beautiful scenery with grueling hikes and relaxing times spent floating down the river. Noah kept himself busy on high-alert chasing squirrels and any other creature brave enough to get near our camp.

The fall brought on a new meaning of the phrase “keeping busy”; Adrienne and Harley enrolled in classes for their teaching certification and masters in computer science, respectively. Adrienne amazed even herself by managing to keep working part time at the community college, tutoring SAT/ACT students, running the book business (See It’s Me Books), setting the curve in her classes, all while taking great care of her family! Harley kept busy with his classes, helping Adrienne with the book business, and working at Aerospace. At work, Harley received several performance recognition awards and was even flown out to our nation’s capital to present a briefing to the director of SIGINT for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

Once again in October Harley and Adrienne found themselves right back in one of our favorite places, Kauai. We were graciously invited by Yvonne and our grandparents (Eldon and Barbara) to join them for part of their vacation in Hawaii. The perfect weather we enjoyed provided great opportunities for hiking, snorkeling, and boating. Something special must have been in the water because we both saw more Hawaiian Sea Turtles up close while swimming than we had ever seen before, what a treat!

Despite the down economy and misfortune of so many, this year God has brought a plethora of great blessings to our family and we are so very thankful for them all. We are also grateful for all of our wonderful family and friends that have been so good to us. Although it is naive to think that this letter may reach all of you in the best of health and fortune, it is our sincerest hope that wherever you may be that you have a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!