Justice's Livin Large

Weekly Update - November 13, 2011

2011-11-13T20:51:00.000-08:00

Fun filled week this one was! We prepared for the Turkey Trot Tournament in St. George, UT for the Bomb Squad 9U team (Jackson's team). The team was playing up in the 10U bracket and ended up losing all four games and not scoring too many runs, but we learned a lot. Brenton played in two games for the Hitmen this week and ended up scoring in both of them. One at bat he got on base with the 3rd strike drop rule, then stole 2 bases and scored on a grounder. It was pretty sweet! This week was also the McGladrey volunteer day were we helped with Project Homeless Connect. Pretty interesting and makes you realize to not take what you have for granted. Amberley went to a really fun Halloween Party with her friends and had a blast! All in all it was a great week, especially since the Niner's beat the Giants!

Weekly Update - November 6, 2011

2011-11-06T14:33:00.000-08:00

Interesting week this last week. Started off with Mike's Birthday. Just another year older. We got to enjoy his favorite meal. . . Spaghetti! Halloween meant work for Mike late and the kid's loading up on candy from the neighborhood. Amberley was dressed up like a Japanese dancer, Brenton was a punk kid that had been beaten up and on crutches. Jackson was Dracula! After a while Amberley's feet hurt, so she took all of the candy and traversed home. The boys ventured on and we had to call them to come home or they would have been out knocking on doors for the whole night! They must have amassed 30 pounds of candy! Luckily Jackie hid the candy and rations it out to everyone. Brenton got to play 3, well actually 2 baseball games (one team forfeited). He is consistently hitting the ball. The team is doing okay, but always could improve. He also played hard in his basketball game against the Las Vegas Elite. The last time they played this team it was a 40 point blow out. This time the Tarheels stayed with them all game long. Amberley is rocking it in basketball inter murals. She is looking forward to tryouts. Jackson and I are prepping for our first tournament as a Bomb Squad 9U team. It has been fun to watch the team come together. Thanks to a nice guy (Bill Wells) at Mike's office we got two free tickets to the UNLV Men's Basketball Team Exhibition game. Jackson and Jackie got to go and check it out. The Reb's are under a new coach this season, so we are hoping for a great season and a tourney run!! Mike went to Chicago to teach training to first year employees at M&P. It was a fast trip, but worth it. The baby is getting along well. The Wednesday check up was a success. He is about 5 pounds and has a strong heartbeat. Jackie had a baby shower Friday night and we have to thank everyone for their gifts!!! We really appreciate it.

Month in Review - August 2010

2010-09-12T15:42:00.000-07:00

August was like any other. . . summer ends and school begins. Jackie was sick most of the month, but that didn't hold us back to going to a few movies, playing badminton in the backyard, playing/watching baseball, basketball and soccer. Jackie spent a few days in the classroom trying to get it ready but she's still working on it. It seems like it takes about two months before everything is exactly the way she wants it; especially after moving rooms. Jackie was lucky enough to move into the building and is still teaching 3rd grade. The most exciting news is that she got her masters degree. It has been a lot of work and we are all grateful she is finished!

Week in Review - July 11th

2010-07-11T10:20:00.000-07:00

It's been an interesting week, one that started in the Uintah Basin and has ended in the sweltering heat of Las Vegas. We visited family and friends in Vernal over the past couple of weeks. Even did a few trips down the Green River (it was heaven to be up there). Everyone went to church last week with the Grand's. It was nice to be back in 9th ward. There are a lot of old timers there that remembered my name and got a good look at the kids. It was probably the most spiritual sacrament meeting that we've been to in a long time. Not sure if it was just that it was July 4th or if it was the nostolgia of being in a place so familiar, but it sure was a great to be there for that. The parade in Vernal was really good. The combo of the Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo and the July 4th parade made it really big. They still throw candy, hmm, wish that could happen in Las Vegas still. We made it back after the long road trip on Wednesday night. You can actually feel the heat change with the color on the drive back. It was great to be home and just be home you know. The summer is now half over and we have been to Florida, Disneyland, and Utah. We still have more to do and see this summer! The best thing so far is that we are expecting!

Shhhhh, it's a secret for now (9 weeks along).

Week in Review - January 31st

2010-01-31T13:29:00.000-08:00

Speaking of weather, this isn't an everday occurance when you can walk out the door and see snow on the mountains in Las Vegas. This is North of our house. Pretty cool!

It's always nice to look back at a week and see what happened, but this week seems to have just run into the previous week. Basically we do about the same things during this time of year. School, Basketball, Practice, Dance, Homework and Work. One thing we liked about this week was that it was normal in nature.

Brenton was able to get finished with his Webelos work just in the nick of time since he turns 11 on Wednesday. He'll now be in the 11 year old scouting group. He still is planning on playing Baseball during the spring, although he hasn't caught the baseball bug yet. He loves playing basketball and was able to score yesterday at the game, even though the team still lost.

Amberley is so tall! It's awesome! We hope that she owns her height because she is so tall. She does a lot around the house to help out. She has even promised her brother that she'll make him his favorite meal for his birthday even though it was her night to cook what she wanted. She won her basketball game this week. No soccer this week still because of weather.

Jackson won his game and is a great defender. He still is short compared to a lot of the 2nd graders so he doesn't get a lot of shots off during the games. He seems to be the creator of mischief and is able to get away with it because he is cute.

Speaking of weather, this isn't an everyday occurance when you can walk out the door and see snow on the mountains in Las Vegas. This north of our house. Pretty cool!

Week in Review - January 24th

2010-01-24T15:50:00.000-08:00

This week started off with wild Las Vegas weather. We got rain almost all week with snow all the way to 4000 feet. Luckily Brenton hiked Red Rock with the Webelos the week earlier or they could have been snowed on.

Due to the weather Amberley was able to enjoy a week without Soccer practice. But the family braved the weather on MLK Day to watch Jackson march in the Parade on 4th street. Luckily the weather kept a damper on the craziness that happened last year at the parade (kid pulled a gun and shot the 17th floor wall of the B of A building). This year nothing eventful happened. Amberley mentioned that it was "Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Barack Obama Day." Not sure that is a good thing for the kid's to see it as, but interesting none-the-less. It will be intriguing to see how history shapes the Presidency of the first Black President.

The rest of the week was about the same for everyone with practices and dance. Brenton earned some more Merit Badges at Pack Meeting on Thursday and then there was Enrichment which was fun. We went to the batting cages on Friday night because Brenton had baseball tryouts on Saturday for the new league we joined, Mountain Ridge Little League. It was awesome to go and hit. Brenton got on track with his hitting. Jackson and Amberley were knocking a lot of balls as well; at 45 mph it was impressive.

Saturday "the curse" happened again. The curse is that not all of us will win our Basketball games only 2 of us will and the other one will lose. After Jackson's team (Lakers 4-1) came back in dramatic fashion in the 4th period we saw Amberley's team (Shock 4-1) play bad, but end up with a win. Then came Brenton/Mike's team's game (Gator's) against the undefeated "non-drafted" team. With a 9 point lead we ended up blowing it in the end to lose the game and drop to 3-2.

Check out the band! Cute huh?

Winner of Family Fantasy Football

2010-01-18T09:46:00.000-08:00

Jackson was the winner of the Family Fantasy Football. Congrats to him for beating Brenton in the SuperBowl. He was awarded the traveling Golden Football. He autographed it and will hold on to it until next year!

October Family Newsletter

2008-12-08T20:11:00.000-08:00

Here we go again. October is over and I’m trying to remember what we did; unfortunately nothing very eventful. The month started off with a great general conference. We were not able to watch on Saturday, but we did enjoy the messages on Sunday. Also church related, I received a new calling. It’s kind-of a funny story. Our ward just split so I have been waiting for a phone call and while Mike was out of town the second counselor wanted to come over for a visit, so I knew that he was going to give me a calling. That’s not the funny part. The funny or maybe I should say the shocking thing was what he asked me to do. He asked me to be the Relief Society pianist. I looked at him and said, “I don’t know how to play the piano.” I could tell he felt a little awkward, as did I. He said the calling was cleared through the bishop. Well, I was put in a very peculiar position. I have never turned down a calling but I honestly knew I would not be able to learn how to play the piano in three days. So I went to talk to our new Relief Society President. She told me my name was on some list that said I was a piano player, when I told her I didn’t know how to play, she felt terrible and told me not to worry about it and she would take care of everything. Hopefully, my name is no longer on the list however; I have been practicing more just in case. A few weeks later I received a second phone call. This time the first counselor (I think the second counselor is scared of me now). He called me to be the assistant to the cub master. I will take care of organizing the awards for the cub scouts and purchasing them at the scout office. So it looks like I’m following in my Dad’s footsteps.

The kids are continuing with their sports. Amberley and Jackson are both doing soccer. Last week while I watching Amberley I could see a big improvement from the first of the year, this is fun to see. We also have everything setup for basketball. Mike will be coaching Amberley’s team and both the boys seem to have good coaches too. Basketball starts the last week of soccer so we will be staying busy.

Everyone in our family is generally very health. However, this year our luck is running out. Of course I had my broken ankle, which has healed nicely, but also this month, while Brenton was playing football at school he was hit in the mouth which caused his braced to break and we had to go in to have them fixed. A few days later while I was at school, the school nurse called me and said Jackson has a fever of 105 degrees. Luckily, we have an in-house sub, so I could leave immediately. We ended up at the doctor and found out Jackson had pneumonia. He has been on two antibiotics and has to do breathing treatments four to six times a day. Then three days later, while Brenton was playing football with Mike and some friends he jammed his finger, which is still black-n-blue and swollen. I hope for the rest of the year we can stay health.

At school, Brenton and Amberley performed in the Fall Showcase. They both did a great job. I’m so great to be at Kitty Ward. It’s given the kids so many more opportunities that most kids don’t have. We also had our annual fall festival. I was in charge of the duck pond. It was fun to see the littler kids in their costumes. Our kids had a great Halloween. We went to our ward’s truck-or-treating party and then Mike took them around the neighborhood. By the time they were done they had five big buckets full of candy. I think I’m going to be sick. Brenton was Harry Potter, Amberley was a witch, and Jackson was Dracula. I even dressed up for school in a Japanese costume.

New York Sports Weekend

2008-09-28T22:23:00.000-07:00

Pre-game at the Giants Game.

View of Meadowlands. It was a beautiful weekend. The Giants won in OT.

Great view of the infield of Yankee's Stadium.

The new Yankee Stadium that's right across the street from the old one.

This is a funny story. These Yahoo's were actually pulling paint chips off the outside of the old Yankee Stadium to "take a piece" of the stadium with them.

Yankee Stadium Last Weekend.

2008-09-28T21:44:00.000-07:00

At the night Yankee Game.

The crew after the afternoon game.

Outside the old Yankee Stadium.

The group outside of Yankee Stadium. 1923 - 2008 The House that Ruth Built.

More of the group, out in front of the stadium.

New York Sports Weekend

2008-09-28T21:12:00.000-07:00

Looking up at The Statue of Liberty.

Posing for Liberty. This was just before going to see Lady Liberty, and yes that is a Stache.

This was on Liberty Island looking back over Battery Park.

Vistit to Ellis Island. We saw a lot of names. Makes you feel glad that we were born an American.

Jackie, Diane and Lori outside of Rockefeller Center. We were so tired, then we went to the Yankee's Game!

Brenton Playing Ball

2008-09-28T21:04:00.000-07:00

Playing Catcher.

Getting ready for some RBI's!

Brenton Playing Ball

2008-09-28T20:33:00.000-07:00

Brenton up-to-bat

In the box.

Nice swing!

Playing some "D" in Left Field.

Brenton playing Catcher

September Newsletter

2008-09-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

Another month is here. September has gone by so quickly. Of course, school has started which meant getting back to schedules and routines.
Brenton’s has a great teacher. He was not happy with us when we enrolled him into her class, but now he is loving school. Goes to show, you should always listen to your mother. He is finishing baseball this week. Mike and I are so proud of him and how much he has improved.
Amberley’s teacher is a really good friend of mine. We have known each other since my previous Elementary. Amberley is really enjoying school and her academics. She is also continuing with dance class and started soccer yesterday.
Jackson likes his teacher and he loves school. He has been waiting a long time to be a part of the “school” world and now he is. Jackson also started soccer yesterday and even scored a goal. Yeah!!!
Mike is keeping busy at work with busy season starting up. But don’t think its all work for him. He is also doing his annual fantasy football league and he is also coaching Amberley’s and Jackson’s soccer teams.
Jackie is staying busy with work as well. She has a great class and is enjoying every minute of it. Earlier this week, we had your open house and I received good reports from all my parents. My foot is getting better. I am down to a brace that I can wear with regular shoes. I’m excited to get if off soon.
We have been waiting for a long time and now they have finally split our ward. We are now in the Shadow Ridge Ward. We have the same bishopric but got a new Relief Society presidency, Young Men presidency and a Sunday School presidency. Mike and I are currently “calless” and we are not complaining. Our primary has also shrunk. It’s now small enough to fit in the primary room. Today we had the ward primary program. The kids did great. Brenton and Amberly had a special singing part and Jackson gave a little talk.
Lastly, Mike and I went to New York this month for a sports weekend and to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. We both had a great time. We flew red-eye Thursday night, so we landed Friday about 6am. I didn’t sleep well that night. As soon as we landed, we went right to the hotel to drop off our luggage. Then we started sightseeing. First, we went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. After that we walked up to Wall Street and Ground Zero. Ground Zero is just a construction zone. They have no memorial, which surprised me. Following that we went to the NBC studios and Rockefeller center. We tried to get Saturday Night Live tickets but we would have to wait in line all night and we didn’t want to do that. To finish the first day we went to the Yankee baseball game. The first day we did a lot of walking and we were very tried by the end of the day. Saturday, the day started with our second Yankee game and then went to Time Square to watch college football. Sunday we went to New Jersey to watch the Giants. Did you know that the New York Giants actually play in New Jersey at the Meadowlands and share a stadium with the New York Jets? I enjoyed the Giant’s game more than the Yankee’s games. After being to the Giants stadium, I understood way the Yankees were making a new stadium. The Giant’s stadium was a lot nicer, but they are still building a new one. After the game we watched the last Yankee’s game played in the Yankee’s stadium on TV. It was a lot of fun to be in New York watching it. Monday, we down to Central Park and enjoyed an Italian lunch then made our way to the airport. Because of my cast, they had to be wand me down again but they decided I hasn’t a terrorist and let me through LOL.
While we were in New York, the kids had a blast with Grandma Justice and Grandma Gale. They made Peanut Butter Candy and hung out.
Well, that’s all from us. We hope everyone has a great October.

Weekly update from Vegas

2008-09-14T22:04:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful sunrise in the Vegas Valley. We've had a great week. Brenton had two games this week coming up close in both of them. He played well. He's a hitter, even hitting off a kid that threw a nasty curveball. Jackson and Amberley started preliminarily soccer. If the parent meeting is any indication we should have great teams. Jackie is going to be in her cast for another few weeks, but it is getting better. Our ward was split last weekend. Looks like we will be in the core ward still, you all know how change is handled, but it should work out as it always does. Amberley is still doing dance for the second month and she's learning a lot.

Brenton Braces

2008-09-08T12:33:00.000-07:00

Brenton after braces.

Brenton before braces.

Well Brenton got his first set of braces this last week. It looks like he is going to have them on until his front tooth moves down into place. We will chronicle his journey. He chose to have red and green for his first set of colors. He was pretty sore for the next couple of days which made him a little cranky. He seems to be adapting to them rather well though.

First Day of School

2008-09-08T12:31:00.001-07:00

Finally all of the kids are in school! This in front of school on the very first day! Needless to say they all are having a great time and are doing well.

UCLA Game at BWW

2008-09-01T19:19:00.000-07:00

Kids cheering on UCLA, well actually only Am & Brenton.

GO BRUINS!

August Newsletter

2008-09-01T15:19:00.000-07:00

August was been an interesting month. Of course, we have enjoying the summer but I also had to start getting ready for school. So it seemed a lot busier. Amberley started dance class which she is really enjoying. Brenton started baseball and has played nearly every position. His favorites are pitcher, catcher, and first base. We also got to visit family in St. George when Mom, Dad, Cyndi, and family came down; while Debbie and I went up. We had fun swimming and visiting with everyone.
We also had to do the school things. Everyone went to the dentist to clean their teeth. Brenton will be getting braces in September. We also did school shopping and Jackson had to get his school shots. He was very brave even though he had to get four shots. I got back into my room early, trying to get organized for the new school year. I also had several training in August trying to reinvent some lessons and activities.
I guess the biggest piece of news is that I broke my ankle. Two days before I had to go back to work we were at the baseball park. I was stepping down off the bleachers when on the last step, my foot slipped and I fell right on the ankle, chipped a bone the Dr. said. It was very painful. Tuesday Mike and I spend the whole day at the doctors. Wednesday I went back to school with crutches. It was not a good way to spend my last day of summer vacation. However, my ankle is healing well. I was on crutches for about two weeks. Now I’m using a walking cast for a few weeks. Then I will return to the doctor and I’m hoping I will just have a brace to wear with my regular shoes for a couple of weeks. Because of my ankle this has been the most stressful start to school I have ever had, however, my class, parents, fellow teachers, and principle have been very supportive.
Mike has had a pretty good month. He has been really helpful at home, he took the whole day off at work to take me to the doctor and later that night he moved all the furniture in my classroom so my room would be ready for the Meet-and-Greet the next day. Work is the same, but this last week he’s been in Henderson at Green Valley Ranch Resort for training. That is an hour drive, not fun in the hot, hot sun with no air conditioning. One morning when he was on his way out the door he had a present; a flat tire. He got to work about an hour late. That was not a good day.
Lastly, Mike and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary. Mike took me to a very nice restaurant called The Capital Grille. It has a beautiful view overlooking the Wynn/Encore and with a great view of the Strip. Mike made special arrangements to have rose petals on the table with a card from the restaurant. It was very nice. I even had Calamari. Mike says the best Calamari on the planet. Next month, we will celebrate again with a trip to NYC. Grandma Justice and Great Grandma Gale are coming to Las Vegas to watch the kids so we can stay for a few days. We are getting excited.
Well, that’s about it. I hope everyone is doing ok. We love ya.
The Justice Family

Sushi Dinner in CO

2008-04-10T01:35:00.001-07:00

This is a sushi dinner that Mike had in Colorado one night. So far no worms in his brain. Sushi is great! The only thing is that this meal was pricey. We compared this meal to a Steak House meal the next night and this was 20% higher, I know that another lame accounting thing, but the sad thing is that this was really good, but I prefer Steak.

Jackson Baseball

2008-04-10T01:32:00.001-07:00

In scoring position!

#1 - at bat - Jackson Justice!

GAME #1 - Baserunning.

Jackson Baseball

2008-04-10T01:28:00.000-07:00

GO ROCKIES!!! See the website to the right for Jackson's team blog.

Waiting to take the field on Opening Day!

Team Rockies!

Taking the field with a vengance!

Brenton Baseball - Opening Day

2008-04-10T01:26:00.001-07:00

Chillin' with Tigers!

Lined up and ready to take the field!

Brenton Baseball

2008-04-10T01:24:00.001-07:00

Brenton at 1st Base.

Playing Left Field.

Defense!

At bat! Brenton Justice #11!

Brenton Baseball

2008-04-10T01:16:00.000-07:00

This is Brenton scoring in game #1.

Brenton Baseball

2008-04-10T01:07:00.000-07:00

This Brenton during his first game. He's #11.

Fergie Concert

2008-04-10T00:42:00.000-07:00

Jackie and I got some tickets to go to the Fergie Concert. We had a great time. It was fun to spend some time alone after two weeks of being apart. We had decent seats and even ran into one of our old friends from Cedar City who is the sister-in-law of someone who works at M&P and who we hang with a lot.

Random pictures

2008-04-09T15:42:00.001-07:00

Snow Man in Vernal.

Jackson & Sara at Gymnastics

Gymnastics practice.

Stretching.

Getting ready for tumbling.

Random pictures

2008-04-09T15:20:00.001-07:00

Brenton 4th of July (a while ago).

The Fourth.

The Fourth again.

Jackson w/ Broken arm (a while ago).

Jackson at Halloween.

Easter Egg Hunt

2008-04-09T15:05:00.000-07:00

Jackson hunting for eggs!

Big kids gearing up for the Easter Egg Hunt.

Jackson getting ready.

Treasures from the Hunt!

Amberley and Jackie at KA

2008-04-09T15:02:00.000-07:00

Amberley in the KA theater w/ Jackie.

After show, meeting the characters.

March Family Newsletter

2008-04-07T13:10:00.000-07:00

March has been a really fun month. I think it’s probably because we were on spring break so we only had three weeks of school. We were all needing the break and made the most of it. Brenton finished his basketball season the first day of March. Good thing because baseball started the exact same day. Brenton’s baseball coach is a very good coach. He is really patient with Brenton and Brenton is improving. Amberley and Brenton both finished their bowling club in the middle of March. I’m glad that is over. It was fun, but seemed to add too much in our already busy life. Brenton also received his wolf award in scouts. Now he is going right into the Bear den. I have finally updated his scout shirt. It wouldn’t be so bad if it were just his wolf patch I needed to get on, but I procrastinated so much I had to put on his bobcat, wolf and seven arrows. Thank goodness for spring break. Amberley has seemed to slow down a little this month. She finished her swimming lessons and really enjoyed that. However, we decided to take a break from swimming. She said something about basketball but we haven’t done anything about that. She has gone on two dates this month. She went to the Blue Man Group with Mike. During the month, Am and I went to KA. It is a production by Cirque de Soleil. Amberley loved both of them. She said Blue Man Group was really funny and KA was amazing. Jackson also finished swimming earlier this month and then started baseball. Mike is coaching his team which both of them seem to enjoy. Today was their first game. Jackson played first base and right field. They don’t keep score for Jackson’s division but he hit the ball every time he was at bat. He also made it all the way around the bases without getting out. All the parents thought he was pretty cute because every time he would come in to home plate, he would always slide. I asked him what he was doing and he told me “That’s what they do.” Jackson also turned five this month. He didn’t have a party but we did go to the park with the Debbie and kids then everyone enjoyed cake and ice cream at our house. The day ended with Sara and Kaitlyn spending the night. Mike spent two weeks in Colorado this month. He was concerned he wasn’t going to be able to get home. When he got to the airport Friday night in Colorado ready to come home, they told him that the airplane was having mechanical problems and they would not be able to help them, but that they needed their names, so that they could pray for them on Easter Sunday. So he had to drive to Phoenix Arizona, an eight-hour drive through the night. Once he got to Phoenix (about 3 am Saturday morning) he couldn’t get a flight until 11:00 Saturday. So he didn’t get home until Saturday afternoon. Besides work, he is putting a lot of time into coaching and helping around the house. I have been busy with work and family. At school, we had a family spaghetti night, which I helped serve and clean up. The second trimester ended so I had to do report cards. (One of the worst things about my job.) We have also had a lot of high-stakes tests, so it’s not a lot of fun. And of course family always keeps me busy. Sometimes I feel like a taxi driver that’s not getting paid. I have spent a lot of nights at the baseball diamonds, which is a nice change of scenery. Also I’m the team mom for Jackson’s baseball team, so I had to make a banner for their team. It was a lot of fun and it turned out pretty cute. We also had a good Easter. Of course the kids went to the Easter egg hunts, which all of them did well and the weekend ended with a nice family dinner.

Jackson being a Starwars Hero

2008-03-26T09:11:00.001-07:00

What a funny kid Jackson is!

Blue Man

2008-03-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

Amberley and I had the opportunity to go to the Blue Man Group Show. We first stopped and had a great dinner at this little Italian place inside the Venetian and took these pictures from that night. We had fun, and Am got lucky to sleep in the next morning, but I wasn't that lucky. It sucks being an adult! :)

After the show - meeting the Blue Man.

Am hanging by the river.

Inside the Blue Man Theater pre-show.

Durango Trip

2008-03-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

This was the horizon from Durango, CO when we landed. Nice to be back in the snow.

According to the former Army Control Tower guy that I'm working with right now, this plane is a great plane to fly in because everyone has a view. Yes it is, but it's also very loud and slow. It was fun to fly in it through.

Spaghetti Dinner at School

2008-03-16T07:10:00.000-07:00

To thank all the Parents and to celebrate Nevada Reading Week the school, Kitty Ward, had a Spaghetti dinner and invited a special guest, Clifford.

Jackson at Swimming Lessons

2008-03-02T20:09:00.000-08:00

Jackson and Amberley have been taking swimming lessons this year at the YMCA. They both have done a great job, this is a picture of Jackson Swimming.

Brenton Scouts Award

2008-03-02T20:00:00.000-08:00

Brenton at Pack Meeting receiving his Wolf Award. Now that he is nine he is moving up to the Bear Den.

Bowling Club

2008-03-02T19:56:00.000-08:00

Brenton at Bowling Club.

This is Amberley after bowling a strike at the Kitty Ward Elementary Bowling Club.

Basketball Awards Ceremony

2008-03-02T19:35:00.000-08:00

The "Nuggets" (left to right) Zach,

Nathan, Brendan, Audre, Brenton,

Zachary, Andrew, Coach Justice

Brenton with his award.

Brenton and Mike at Awards Ceremony with his Medal

Saturday Night Dinner

2008-03-02T11:40:00.000-08:00

After Baseball Practice we decided to go to a new Italian Restraurant. It was a good time and we were stuffed.

Brenton's 1st Baseball Practice

2008-03-02T11:21:00.000-08:00

Brenon had his first Baseball Practice last night. He is doing a great job. His team looks really good this year.

Night at Blue Man Group Performance

2008-02-27T08:05:00.000-08:00

Jackie met one of the Blue Men after the show!

After the show hanging by the Blue Man Poster.

We ending up on the fly getting some tickets to see the Blue Man Group last night. So we headed down to the Venetian and had a quick bite and then on to the show. We had fun. When all was said and done we didn't make it home until 1 am, so today will drag. Tonight is the 1st round of the playoffs for Brenton's Basketball team. We'll keep you posted.

February Family Newsletter

2008-02-25T21:20:00.000-08:00

Another busy month has come and gone. This month started with Brenton’s birthday and birthday party. We went to the roller skating palace. Brenton had some of his friends from school and church come. His schoolteacher even came and skated with us. It was a lot of fun. A few days later was the super bowl. Brenton is a huge Patriots fan but everyone else wanted the Patriots to lose. When the Patriots lost he took it pretty well. No tears, no yelling, just disappointed. He did say that he is excited for March because then he gets to win in March Madness. Brenton and Amberley are currently doing the bowling club. Brenton is finishing his basketball league this next week and Amberley and Jackson are finishing their last swimming lesson on Saturday. Amberley lost her fifth tooth and again the tooth fairy was late giving her money. The tooth fairy needs to get organized. I have been busy with work and the kids. I have also completed my last provision on my Nevada state license. I had to complete a course on the Nevada law and constitution. I just finished it last week so I’m happy to say I will be a teacher in the state of Nevada for the rest of my life. Nothing special with Mike. Just work, work, and more work. He also has been coaching Brenton’s basketball team that will be ending this week and next week he will start coaching Jackson’s baseball team. One extra bit of fun this month was seeing Debbie and the kids last weekend. I know we live only an hour away from each other but it’s been difficult to find time to get together. On President’s Day weekend, we spent the afternoon together having a picnic and swimming at the Boulder City pool. We had a good time. Well, that’s all for now. We hope everyone is doing OK. We are going to be doing a March Madness Family Pool again, if you want to participate let Mike know.

Amberley Going Toothless

2008-02-25T20:55:00.000-08:00

We'll now we have two kid's with a missing front tooth. Amberley called me to tell me that she has a loose tooth and I need to come home early that night to pull it out. So that is what I did, went home and pulled out her tooth. The tooth fairy was a day late in getting her paid, but that was just because of the timing of when she lost her tooth.

Work Trip to Reno

2008-02-01T22:02:00.000-08:00

This was another trip to Reno. I went there for work. Took the guy I was with around as it was his first time in Reno. This is the famous downtown sign. It was a long 2 days. Very little sleep, but we tore up the job and got a 2 week audit completed in two days. Wicked Cool!

Brenton's Birthday Party Video

2008-02-01T21:49:00.000-08:00

Brenton's Birthday Party

2008-02-01T21:32:00.000-08:00

Jackson getting ready to skate at Brenton's B-day Party.

Brenton tearing it open!

Nice Cake!

Look Mom, I skating!

Taking a break.

Rangler's Game (Hockey)

2008-02-01T21:12:00.000-08:00

This is at the Orleans Areana - Friday Night!

January Family Newsletter

2008-02-01T20:48:00.000-08:00

This month we have been getting back to normal. Back to school, back to 8:00 bedtimes for the kids and back to busy season (Mike's work). We went back to school on the 7th of January and the first week back was parent/teacher conferences. It was hard work. It takes a lot of time to prepare for conferences, so the first week back was pretty long. I recieved good reports from Amberley's and Brenton's teachers. Both of them are working hard and learning a lot. On top of doing parent/teacher conferences, the Saturday before I went back to work, my babysitter called me and told me that she got a new job and wouldn't be able to watch Jackson anymore. So I scrabbled trying to find a new sitter and I lucked out when I found a neighbor in the ward that was looking for kids to watch. She lives on the same street as us and has five kids. One is in kindergarten so they get to play together. It worked out perfectly.
During the third week of January, Mike's parents came down to visit for a few days. It worked out perfectly because Mike and I had a trip planned to Reno for the weekend. So instead of the kids staying with a family friend, they got to stay home with Grandma and Grandpa Justice.
Brenton basketball season is continuing. He is doing great and trying hard. Next month Brenton and Jackson are starting baseball. It looks like we will be spending a lot of time at the baseball parks.
Amberley and Jackson are contiuning with swimming. Both of them are learning a lot, but Amberley is making great strides. The first week of her new class, the teacher came up to me and said Amberley is too advanced and needed to move up other class. She is really enjoying swimming.
Mike is busy with busy season. He is in-charging McGladrey's biggest client. On top of that, the client decided to move up their filing date by about four weeks so Mike has had to put in a lot of hours. It has been a lot of pressure on him but he is doing well. The one good thing about this is that after Febraury 15th Mike will be pretty much done with his busy season.
Along with all the things Mike is doing he somehow found the time to open the Justice Family blog. We invite all of you to visit our new website at http://justicelivin.blogspot.com/
One last bit of good news. After being married for nearly ten years, our family is attending nine o'clock church for the first time. I love it. Being in a huge ward for the past two years, it's caused us to have one o'clock church but someone figured out that if we put primary first and switch the other wards in our building we would be able to attend the earlier time. So our ward is still huge but finally we get the earlier time.
Finally, we were saddness by the lose of President Hinckley this past month. Ever since I can remember President Hinckley has been a member of the first presidence. He will be greatly missed.

Love, The Justices

Snowy Las Vegas Day

2008-01-24T08:02:00.000-08:00

This is what we woke up to in Las Vegas.

Random pictures

2008-01-19T18:08:00.000-08:00

After a day sleding in Deep Creek (actually 4 wheeling in the snow with a sled attached).

Mike w/ Jordan - what a night!

Amberley sleeping w/ new braids

Cedar City Dinner Dare

2008-01-19T17:19:00.000-08:00

Okay here's the story (Jackie doesn't even know yet). I was in Cedar City for work last week, and a couple of people that we have hired and start next year from SUU live there, so we thought it would be a fun time to go out to dinner with them. We had a great recommendation to go to a nice restaurant (stays unnamed as you will find out later). With reservations made and a group of eight we thought that dinner would go smooth. Boy were we wrong, it all started out when our waiter took 15 minutes to bring out our drinks, then another 10 to bring appetizer's. After we got finished with those we waited for 7 minutes (we started to time) for salad's and low and behold our dinner (all at the same time). As we still hadn't gotten refills by this time we thought that someone was running down the street to Maverick to get more soda. One of the highlights of the night was when the waiter educated us on the difference between table pepper and crushed pepper (after we pointed out where he put down the shaker) then he proceeded to add pepper to not only our salads, but to our laps as well. This was right after he dumped french onion soup on the lap of one of the new hires and the funny thing was the waiter didn't even notice, so we didn't tell him, but he probably was wondering what was so funny when we were all laughing. Now that we are about 1 hour into our dinner we finally have our food. Okay I know that I'm from Vernal, but whenever I've eaten Prime Rib I've had horseradish. Apparently the rules are different in Cedar, Prime Rib only comes with vegetables. After we asked for horseradish and waited for 5 minutes, the waiter brought it out the caveat was that it was "Raw Horseradish" This was the most potent horseradish I've tasted. Which brings me to the highlight of the night. We all decided that it would be funny to see Mike eat an entire spoonful of Raw Horseradish. Well I got it down, holding back laughter and tears (and snot). For desert we were asked "What kinda' group do we have here?" "A thirsty one" was the only response. At which time we finally were able to get our first of what turned out to be two refills. It was a fun filled dinner that lasted 4 hours - On the bright side, my sinuses were all clear and we didn't have to use the restroom very much.

Reno trip

2008-01-19T16:56:00.000-08:00

Ya that's right those are clouds and right again that's an airplane wing. Jackie and I went to Reno - thanks goodness for great Grandparents right? - for Clay Wanta's surprise birthday party, Happy Birthday Clay! What a fun filled weekend. We enjoyed the friends that were there until 3 am, wow we were really tired. I really hope that I can make it to 50 years old and still kick butt like Clay. By the way Brenton won his 1st Basketball Game - maybe Grandparents are also good luck charms.

Mike's $1 Dare

2008-01-06T21:22:00.001-08:00

Mike Chugging Hot Sauce on a $1 dare! It felt worse on the way out :)

NASCAR Cafe - At the Sahara!

2008-01-06T21:18:00.001-08:00

Kid's posing at the NASCAR Cafe.

SeaWorld Shamu Christmas Show

2008-01-06T21:10:00.000-08:00

SeaWorld in the Wintertime! We loved our vacation!

2008-01-06T21:02:00.000-08:00

Opening Post

2008-01-06T20:45:00.000-08:00

Well we thought that we would see if this blog thing would catch on with our family and friends. Hopefully we can make some new friends. This picture was taken at Sea World when we went there for our family vacation during Christmas Break. We will be posting some more information later.