Weekly Update - October 25, 2015

Homecoming: this was a fun week. Brenton and Amberley spent a lot of time with there StuCo buddies preparing for Hoco2015! The Sophomore team (Amberley) won the float contest! Amberley was the cupcake and had an amazing time! The Juniors won overall(Brenton)! They had a great time and the football team won their have as well. Jackson went on scout camp at Hidden forest and killed it going 11.5 miles. Jackie did an amazing job with keeping everything in tune and she even was able to cook dinner every night this week for the family. I had a great Friday on a date with Jackie at the T&M watching the PBR. There were two major injuries there and it was interesting watching the cowboys ride for 8 seconds. It was nice to get away for a night together! Then our Sunday night was filled with spiritual and family time. Dinner with the Missionaries and then pumpkin carving with the kids, great time!

Loving life

This week starts a new year of school... Significant for everyone, but most important for Brenton being his Junior year. We are very excited for him and ask the kids! This summer has brought out family much by way of learning lessons. The importance of the Gospel in our lives seems to keep being of utmost importance. Love learn laugh is what we are doing in our family!

Weekly Update - November 13, 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Playing Catcher.


Getting ready for some RBI's!

Brenton Playing Ball

Brenton up-to-bat


In the box.


Nice swing!


Playing some "D" in Left Field.


Brenton playing Catcher

September Newsletter

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

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

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

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

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



GO BRUINS!

August Newsletter

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

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

In scoring position!


#1 - at bat - Jackson Justice!



GAME #1 - Baserunning.

Jackson Baseball

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

Chillin' with Tigers!


Lined up and ready to take the field!

Brenton Baseball

Brenton at 1st Base.


Playing Left Field.


Defense!


At bat! Brenton Justice #11!