Our First Seasonal Season Party: Fall!

We decided to start the tradition of throwing a party on the first day of each new season. We love the change that the start of a new season brings: the freshness, the excitement, the inspiration. Although we do not really experience season changes much in Southern California, we still get excited for the things that each new season brings. 

We kicked off our new tradition on September 21st: the first day of fall. My job was decor, favors & other fun touches; David's job was the food, drinks and music. There are specific things that we connect to fall: foods, colors & songs. 

Here are a few photos by my good friend, Jenetta . For more photos and to see details about everything, hop on over to my work blog: www.joyfulweddingsandevents.blogspot.com 

Isaiah had a great time at his first fall party! 

He got to flirt with his future wife:

And play with his buddies:

Isn't his bride to be cute?

Some more moments from the party:

This is our friend Rachel. You may recognize her from a ford commercial :)

David, cooking away:

Some more friend pictures. Terrible quality, taken with my point & shoot that was having flash issues that night:

Happy Fall everyone! Be sure to look at my blog for more fall goodness. 

Me & Daddy

buds.

These are a few of his favorite things

*Opening and closing anything. Doors. The gate to the stairs. Drawers.

*Giving great hugs while saying "ahhhhhhhhhh". So sweet & funny!

*Eating. Especially Mac & Cheese & bananas. (I don't think this one will ever leave his list!) By the way, in case you were wondering what the proper way to eat a tortilla is, here you go:

*Sneaking into the bathroom and unrolling the toilet paper, then tearing it up to pieces.

*Sneaking into the pantry and pulling down anything he can reach. We perpetually have tea cans, plastic spoons and formula cans on the floor.

*Climbing up the stairs the second the gate is off.

*"Helping" me put away clothes. This usually means taking things out of drawers and messing up my neatly organized piles of clothes. He also likes to help unload the dishwasher. Spoons all over the place!

*Babbling non-stop.

*Making "vroom" sounds while playing with his car or plane toys.

*Jumping up and down in his crib when he wakes up from his nap and turns on his aquarium thing.

*Trying to bite my leg. Specifically my knee. Did anyone else's babies ever try to do this?

*Being with people. He loves the nursery at church. All of the nursery helpers always comment on how happy and fun he is :)

*Dancing. The second music comes on- he starts bouncing and puts one arm in the air and starts waving it.

*Clapping with both hands open. This is new as of the past two days. He used to clap with one hand closed in a fist. Somehow, he finally figured it out this week.

*Starting to realized that he can stand on his own. He gets a little nervous and then bends his knees and goes back to crawling. I'm fine with that :) He can take his time getting to walking.

*Chasing his daddy around the house. They love playing together.


We are having so much fun with him. David says, "he is rocking life right now". He is super happy all the time and keeps us entertained. He is getting big- we love his chubby cheeks. He got his 3rd tooth a few weeks back and is working on #4 & #5.

I love this picture of him! It was taken by the lovely Jenetta at our fall party (a post soon to come!)

UCLA fight fight fight!

Isaiah got to go to his first UCLA game on labor day (yep, we are crazy like that and drove straight from Bass Lake to the game). What an exciting first game for him- we won in overtime (very much unlike last week's game. We're not going to talk about that one). He loved taking everything in, although he really wanted to crawl down the stairs onto the field.

clapping and cheering the team on!

He then fell asleep in the 3rd quarter. He slept through most of the exciting, loud parts

But, he woke up in time to see the exciting end of the 4th quarter and overtime

 That one is my favorite!

My nephews, Benny & DJ got to come with us which was super fun! It was Ben's first real football game.

DJ got really excited at the end. So much, that he just couldn't keep his shirt on anymore :)

First of many family UCLA pics to come:

You might be wondering why I am wearing a black MVHS sweatshirt. Isaiah decided he was so excited to be there, that he spat up all over me. Three times. He hardly even spits up anymore, but of course, when we are out in public when I don't have another shirt, it all came out. Thanks DJ for letting me borrow your sweatshirt!

On a similar note, we have extra tickets for the UCLA v Arizona game tomorrow. I'm heading out to our women's retreat and David isn't feeling well, so they are up for grabs. They are $17/piece. They are great seats- right by the field. Let me know if you want them!

 Go bruins!

Labor Day Weekend: Bass Lake Extravaganza

Finally! Here it is!

David will post a full album of pictures in our My Photos section, but, for now, here is a recap of Isaiah's first labor day weekend: *warning: a long post. lots of pictures. probably only interesting to family*

We went up to Bass Lake with my brother & his family, my parents, my sister Shannon & her kiddos & some family friends, the Theules & the Damatos. At one point, we had 30 people staying in the house! Heather & Donald couldn't make it, so we let her boys tag along with us. They were great babysitters on the long drive up.

My sister in law, Lindsey, grew up in this house. It is incredible- 3 stories, right on the water. What a gift it is when we get to go relax and play in the water.

Gracie steering Mr. Crab:

Isaiah is quite the fish- he loves swimming!

Grandma & Lily floating away to the Island:

Captain Isaiah: *my favorite pic of the whole trip:

Boat time! Lots of boat cuddles:

Lily was so excited, she fell asleep:

Isaiah loved the boat. He was not so sure about the life jacket at first, he really wanted to get out of it. But once the boat got going, he couldn't contain himself. He was jumping up and down, shouting and smiling as the wind hit his face. It was so adorable!

Grandpa taught him how to drive the boat:

Water fun:

I wish this picture was clearer, because it is hilarious. Every time Tyler signaled faster, Gracie immediately signaled lower.

Then they got brave:

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of us wakeboarding. David did a great job on the first day- I'll have to find those pics and post them. I however, did not do so well and actually hurt my back that first day on the lake. Not fun. Especially since I had to walk up and down stairs the rest of the weekend. So, my water fun was limited to swimming and tubing super slowly with my niece, Lily. The back is all better now thought :)

Here is a hunky pic of my hubby, with my nephew Andrew wakeboarding in the background:

Aside from the water, we had fun lounging around, helping Lindsey make some of her cute products, eating and playing games.

Me & my big sister, Shan:

This little island is out in the middle of their cove. On sunday & monday, it was like Havasu! Party central.

David's favorite picture of the Theule's little guy, Brady:

Isaiah got a lot of lovin from his cousins:

I can't believe that I did not get any pics of Isaiah & Silas. They loved playing together. Silas would run over and give Isaiah big bear hugs. It was so sweet! Linds or Shan- did you get any of the two of them?

Silly Isaiah, you are supposed to swat flys, not Aunts! (*my niece Amber has decided that she is Isaiah's auntie amber, not a cousin!)

Yummy shakes:

Isaiah & uncle sean:

What's wrong Amber? Too early? :)

Me & my gracie-o:

Some sweet family time:

We are missing a bunch of pictures, specifically from our hike up to bass lake falls. To see some of those, you can check out Lindsey or Shannon's blogs on the trip. I might post more once I get them from everyone.

We had such a great time- I wish I could go back right now! Lindsey & Jones': thank you for giving us the opportunity to get away and make so many great memories!