I hope this letter finds you and your family in good health and high spirits. As for our little family (Brett, Pixel and I) we are doing quite well. We are still in our house in the south end of Regina. Not much has changed at the house except for the giant grave in our front yard. That's right, we had to dig up and replace the sewer pipes. I believe the problem began last New Years Eve when we had a house full of company which meant lots of flushes of the potty. Lots of beverages were consumed and a violently ill Dani - not from drinking, but the flu used the washroom and January 1st we realized nothing was going down. Not good when you are not feeling well. Do you know how much it costs to have Roto-rooter come to your house on January 1st? Too damn much money! The Roto-rooter man had to break the news to us that we needed to have the pipes dug up and replaced. So in April we dug up most of the front lawn to replace pipes so we would have the popular look of the graveyard for the Halloween season, too bad Halloween was 6 months away. Fun, fun! Hopefully in the next year or two the grave will disappear.

I (Dani) am still doing the teaching thing. I am working for Regina Public Schools teaching Special Education to FIAP and VAP student's, grades 9-12 at Campbell Collegiate. I am very thankful for my special ed. training as that was got me the permanent contract at the end of the last school year, which was extremely exciting I might add! Since becoming a "real" teacher I decided I should enjoy the benefits that teacher's have including taking the summer off. This past summer was my first summer that I have not worked since I was 14 years old. Without work what would I do with my time? I spent 4 days at Marean Lake, I took a road trip to Calgary to the Stampede, I attended Craven Country Jamboree for the 4th year in a row, I became a weeder who happened to garden, I read books for enjoyment and spent a lot of time laying in the hammock in the backyard with Pixel. It was fantastic!

Brett continues to work at the Coop Upgrader and is still enjoying it. He is also continuing with his Masters Program in Computer Science and will be half done the program by the end of next summer. Brett also decided to take up some teaching and taught a Computer Science class at the university last winter. He was extremely busy with a full time job, teaching a 3 hour class once a week (plus all the prep) and taking a masters CS class all at the same time. Although he was really busy, he enjoyed the teaching quite a bit and would have done it again next spring if he had the time.

Pixel is still adorable as ever. He loves the outdoors and lucky for him he spent most of the summer in the backyard on his leash. The neighbourhood squirrels and Pixel spent many hours staring each other down. I am not sure who hated the other the most, although I bet the squirrel that is missing half of his tail will never enter our yard again. In addition to hunting down squirrels Pixel has also taken up magic. Our little Houdini managed to escape from his "cuffs" (his harness) with the strength of the hulk (which is odd, because he is not green!). Two weeks and four leashes later we managed to finally secure the prodigy to the deck.

We also participated in sporting events this year. Our Sunday night volleyball team finished first in our pool at the end of the spring and was lucky enough to move up a pool. We have since dropped back down, but are hoping to move back up in the new year. Beach volleyball was also a blast. I'm pretty sure we spent more time on the decks after the games than on the court, but we had a good ole time with our friends. A wheelchair basketball tournament was also a major highlight. Wow, who knew that flying around on wheels could be so competitive and fun.

Because of all the good gardening that we did, we spent a few weeks this fall preserving our crop. Over 20 jars of beet relish were made, along with pickled carrots (which don't taste the best), frozen corn, frozen carrots, many pounds of potatoes, beans, and a few onions. Grandma and Grandpa Hoffart (Jake and Marie) had given us tons of choke cherries this year. We were sure not to put them to waste. I (Brett) spent an afternoon making choke cherry jelly. Dang does that taste good. I also have been keeping busy with wine making. I currently have over 60 litres of choke cherry wine in the making, along with some dandelion wine, strawberry wine, and strawberry rhubarb wine (all from scratch, real fruits and weeds indeed).

Wow, this year has really flown by. I still wake up every morning expecting to see green grass outside. The swirling snow and winter have now arrived. Have a Merry Christmas I hope you and your families have a great 2009. We look forward to visiting with you in the new year! Feel free to drop by or give us a call anytime.

Wishing you all the best!

Brett, Danielle & Pixel Park