Despite having my Christmas tree up mid-October, (don't worry ... you read that correctly) Christmas kind of snuck up on me. Oh well! It is that time of year again, when we take a look back on all the things we learned and accomplished from the past year.

Brett and I both started out 2010 taking part in a challenge...BIGGEST LOSER competition. We were competing in a family version, and I was also competing in a version at work. We both decided that we needed to make some lifestyle changes and to eat healthier and to become more active. So with a little or a LOT of money on the line, we both began 2010 BIGGEST LOSER challenge. Needless to say, Brett was much better at this challenge than I. He could motivate himself, and stop eating foods that were bad for him. It proved to be much more difficult for myself. So I enlisted help from my baby sister Michelle (a personal trainer). I PAID my sister to come to my house twice a week for one hour and yell at me, and order me to complete very demanding tasks. I also was a part of her Boot Camp Wednesday evenings. Needless to say all her hard work and my effort paid off. Both Brett and I were very successful in our attempt at healthier lifestyles. I must say doing this as a family was much easier than doing it by myself. Now when we grocery shop or plan things, we are more conscious together about what we buy, cook, or do. And, we both won money from the competitions as well as an added bonus to our hard work.

This spring we become an Aunt and Uncle again with the birth of Sienna Zimmerman (Renee and Earl's daughter). Brett was honoured at the opportunity to be Sienna's godfather.

Both of us also participated in our first mini-triathlon here in Regina. The See-Dick and See-Jane Tri's were held in Regina near the end of June. It was a very rewarding experience and we both look forward to completing again next year. Brett also completed a major feat ... running a Half-Marathon ... wait for it ... BARE FOOT! That's right. He ran the whole damn thing without shoes, just skin on asphalte and still kicked my ass! I must say I was very proud of him for completing this very difficult feat! I also participated in the half again this year...with shoes of course...and beat my time from last year by 10 minutes (without any training). I was very happy with my run...but very sore the next day!

We managed to go on 2 vacations this year. Las Vegas in February and Victoria in July. We traveled to Vegas with some dear friends of ours (Jay & Monique Waugh). We stayed at the luxurious Signature at the MGM Grand. Wow. Vegas really is an awesome place. Many people think you go to Vegas to gamble, we did very little of that, there is so much to see and do there. It was a jam packed vacation, lots of walking, took in lots of sights and sounds.

Victoria was a quieter vacation. Brett and I had a travel voucher that needed to be used by the end of July, so we decided on Victoria. We did not do a lot of planning in advance, instead we decided to figure it all out when we arrived. The only thing we did do was book a place to stay. We stayed in a lovely hostel called Ocean Island Backpackers Inn. The hostel was located downtown within walking distance of almost anything. When we first checked in, I was a little apprehensive, but we soon grew accustomed to our little room. We arrived in Victoria on July 1st, and I LOVE fireworks, so we walked down to the harbour to see the Canada Day Celebrations. It was very beautiful, and so many people were out and about and dressed in red & white. Some of the highlights of our trip included sailing (apparently I get sea sick), renting a 1937 Jaguar (Ahhhhoooooogaaaaaaa!) & putting our toes into the ocean! Victoria is a very nice city, and would definitely travel back to see it again some day.

We spent a fair bit of time trying to garden again this year. But as you all know, it was a wet one. About a quarter of our garden was under water for weeks at end. In the end, our 30 some potato plants made about 10 potatoes. O well, as the farmers say, there is always next year.

Well, the summer started coming to an end too fast as usual. It was a shame as Brett had much work to do. Our deck has been, well close to unsafe since we bought the house and this year was our time to replace it. So, Brett spent a couple of days ripping down the old deck (I think he had some fun doing it). After the deck was torn down, we moved in my newest favourite thing! a hot tub! Luckily, the hot tub came from my awesome Aunt who lives just a block and a half away, so it wasn't to hard to move. It took Brett and Jay a days work to get it all hooked up, but they were both very eager to get it going. Well, get it going they did I am very grateful as Dani's and hot tubs are excellent combinations. After the hot tub was in place Brett started building a new deck from our back door to the hot tub. He didn't get done the whole thing before the snow flew, but the floor of the deck is all done.

Sometime during the fall Brett and a couple others managed to start a company (Shiverware Interactive Software Developlements Inc. what a long name). I'm not sure when Brett found time to do it, but they released a program called Musix for the iPad on the App Store. As well, Brett will be teaching a course at the University after christmas for Mobile Computing (or iPhone development really). Should be another busy year.

We also got some kinda crappy news in the last couple months, Brett started looking like a super model and we weren't sure why. Turns out he got diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. This is posing some new challenges for both Brett and I, especially in trying to find things to cook that he can eat! But, hopefully things will improve fast and we will be back to normal food in the near future.

Well, as we wrap this up (Brett really did help write this, or so he says) on christmas eve, Brett and I would like to thank everyone for being a part of our lives in the last year, even if we didn't get to see you much. We hope you had a great year, have a merry christmas, and bring in the next year with happiness and vigor.

Love Brett, Dani & Pixel