We Meet Berkeley!

Bill's grandpa "Pop" passed away on Sunday, February 22nd so his daughter, Laci was able to come for a visit to attend the services. Even though it was a sad occasion, we all were able to meet Berkeley William for the first time.

Here are some family photos of everyone with the little guy. He is absolutely adorable!

Laci and Berkeley.

Grandpa Bill and daughter Laci.

Five generations on the Taft side! Great-grandpa Michael, Laci, Berkeley, great-great grandma Utella, and grandpa Bill.

Grandma Utella with Berkeley. What a lucky kid to have a great, great grandma who is 92 years old and as cute as ever!


Great-grandma Dianne with BDub. There were 5 generations on the Thiese side too. We missed a picture with Pops by only a couple of days.


Bill's family... Mike, Dianne, JaNean, & Bill.

Welcome Berkeley! We'll miss you Pop!

Hawaii 2009

We just returned from a terrific vacation on the island of Maui.

It was so much fun to spend time with our friends Debbie, Tyler, Crystal, and Boyd. 10 days worth of awesome experiences are hard to condense to a few sentences, but here are a few highlights:

The gang went on an all-day boat trip around the island of Lanai. We saw old shipwrecks from WW2, whales, dolphins, turtles, starfish, octopus, snails, and all kinds of colorful fish on our three snorkel stops. It was great fun!

All of us in our raincoats (we still got thoroughly soaked).

This was not our best Pacific Whale Foundation trip! The weather was cold and windy and the waves were pounding our boat like crazy. We hardly saw any whales and we got sprayed with freezing salt water over and over again. But I can honestly say, it was the funnest whale watch we've ever taken.


Tyler took Crystal on a 2 hours spin around the island in one of the planes seen in the background. It was a little spendy to rent the aircraft, but hey, when you're a pilot how can you resist?


We spent a lot of time on the beautiful beaches in Wailea. It was hard to keep my wild and crazy friends under control, but I managed somehow! One photo from this occasion that we sadly did not captured was the picture of a bird perched on Debbie's butt for a minute or two. She obviously was in a coma.

Debbie, Bill, and Boyd (in case you aren't able to recognize their finer features)!


Bill and Boyd on their rented Harley Davidson's touring the island. Isn't life rough?


Here we are in the hot tub at Debbie's fancy hotel. This was our grand finale each night after a couple of card games and a yummy dinner at one of the restaurant in Kihei. By the way, everybody cheated at cards- Lori never even won a game!



Debbie, Tyler, and Crystal Kitty at Haleakala crater. It was spectacular!


And lastly, paybacks... here's a flattering one for Debbie. You'll learn not to post swimming suit shots of me on your blog!


Thanks to everyone for making this so much fun. I love you all! Lori

Look Who's 92!

Happy Birthday wishes to Grandma Utella! On Thursday, January 29th she will be 92 years old. This is Bill's grandma on his dad Mike's side of the family. Yesterday Michael, Dianne, Bill, JaNean, Rocky, Michelle, Ashton, and Gage celebrated by taking her out to brunch at Market Street Grill. She is an inspiration to us all!


By the way, we are having birthdays galore! In addition to cute, new baby Berkeley on December 31st, we want to wish Blake (Lori's son), Rocky (JaNean's son), Wendi (Lori's daughter), and Braxton (Lori's grandson) a terrific day!

Remembering Dad

Thursday, January 22nd will mark the one year anniversary of my dad's passing. We all miss him so much and want all who knew him to take a moment to remember his kind, gentle ways and his outstanding example. I love you dad! Your daughter, Lori

Lori's Darlings

Photo of Lori's grandkids Corbin and Cierra at Christmas time!

Corbin (also called Corbie, Scooter, or Corb) belongs to my daughter Angie and Layne. He is 17 months old, born on July 29th, 2007. This little guy is amazing. He is on the run constantly and has been walking since he was 8 months old. He loves trains, cars, videos, and rough-housing with anyone who will throw him around. He will sit on your lap and cuddle too!

Cierra (known as Cc, Crazy, and Baby Buthead) belongs to my son Ryan and Wendi. She is 15 months old, born on September 16th, 2007. She has big blue eyes and lots of cute curly hair. She has three big brothers that love her to pieces and they have taught her to talk a lot, love animals and motorcycles, and be pretty wild at times. She can also very girlie and cute too!

Grandma loves you both a whole bunch...

A Utah Man Am I

Way to go Utes!

Here is Bill debriefing right after the big win with Christian in Boston.

More Baby Photos

Do you think Grandpa is proud of the little guy?

Upon request, we are posting some more photos of Berkeley. One of our friends wondered why there were no pictures of Laci. We asked her why we didn't get to see any birthday photos of mommy with the baby. We found out that Christian was prohibited from sending us any because Laci felt and looked a bit frazzled after a whole day of labor. We doubt it, she looks great to to us!

Happy New Year!