Working with Brenda and Charlie was truly an honor. This session was a gift from their children to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. I loved working with them. I loved hearing their stories of how they met and the details of their first date. We were even joined by their grandson, who happened to celebrating his first birthday that weekend. He and his grandma share the same special day. Since they were visiting from out of town, I took them to the location where Ali and I were married. It’s funny, I hadn’t been back since saying, “I do” so it made the day even more special. I only hope that in 33 years that M. and A. will do the same for us.

Brenda and Charlie, wishing you many more years of love, happiness and laughter. xoxo

xo,
Kristie

This precious little guy is a perfect addition to this sweet family. Baby J. couldn’t have been born into a more loving, wonderful home. He has the most amazing parents and grandparents with hearts of gold, two of the most affectionate twin sisters and a sweet furry four-legged brother to protect him. Life is so good! I absolutely adore this family and feel so blessed to have captured their lives over the last couple of years (you can see them here and here).

More sneak peeks to come.

xo,
Kristie

A couple of weeks ago we had the best visit with our good friends, the M. family. I can’t tell you how much we’ve missed these three! Our time together filled our hearts with so much happiness–it was hard to let them go.

Our first couple of days together were spent in Victoria, BC. It’s such a beautiful spot, where high tea is served everyday (it’s totally my kind of place). After we made sure to get our double decker bus ride in, it was off to Seattle. Thankfully, our “Serra Seattle tours” have expanded past the gum wall (no worries though if you had your heart set on visiting us and seeing the gum wall, it’s still a part of the tour).

We had a blast taking them to some of our favorite local spots and just walking around the city. I couldn’t have picked a better way to end the summer! And, lucky for me, I will be seeing them today! I am heading to Tampa and to top it off, it’s M’s birthday. There will be some birthday hugs given tonight! So, if you happen to leave some love on the blog in the form of a comment (we photographers love comments), be sure to leave some birthday wishes for this beautiful mama!

Happy Birthday, Mo! I can’t wait to see you this evening and give you a hug! xoxo

I hope everyone enjoys the holiday weekend. I will be returning home on Monday. All emails and phone calls will be returned starting on Tuesday the 7th.

Until next time.
xo,
Kristie

Above: The big kindergartners, 2009

And today, the BIG first graders. *sigh*

I was lucky to get these shots. Seriously! They couldn’t get to school fast enough and the thought of stopping for a picture or two was at the very bottom of their to-do-lists! I told them I would continue taking pictures of their first day of school for each grade all the way through college because I am planning on making a giant collage for them that I will give them when they turn twenty-two! Ha! If you could have seen the looks on their faces.

If you have kiddos in school, I hope their school year is off to a fabulous start! With my twins in first grade, my hubby in art school and my dog that needs obedience school, there is a lot of schooling going on over here and we love it! Happy learning!

The Summer that is… It was just a few months go that I was talking with a good friend about how we were going to fill our summers. We worried about having enough fun things to do, about making sure our kiddos didn’t forget everything they had just learned and about keeping our sanity. Fast forward to today, I’m still sane (for the most part), and the summer has been a blast (minus the last week and a half of fevers and coughs), but it’s almost gone. It seems unreal that ten weeks just flew by like that and that in less than two weeks my boys are off to first grade. They are excited and I am excited for them, but over these next two weeks, I’m going to make sure we do more snuggling, bubble blowing, basketball bouncing, giggling, bed jumping, tickling, sliding, swinging, running, hugging, etc. So, if things are quiet on the blog, you know why.

On a scheduling note, I am currently booking fall and holiday sessions for September and October in Seattle. I’ve scouted out some beautiful locations throughout the city and surrounding areas and I have lots fun and fabulous offerings available, including custom holiday cards. Trust me, your friends will have holiday card envy for sure!

And, in travel related news, I am heading to Tampa Labor Day weekend for my last visit of the year. I’m looking forward to working with so many lovely families. My regular sessions are filled, but I do have a handful of holiday mini sessions still available for the morning of Saturday, September 4th. If you’d like more information or would like to book a session, please email me at kristie@kristieserraphoto.com.

Okay, back to more summer fun. Until next time.

xo,
Kristie

In just about 6 weeks, these two will be welcoming their baby girl into the world. To celebrate we took to the streets of Seattle last night, stopping for balloon hats, pretend roller coaster rides, a cafe setting for two, beautiful light, head-locks and washer/dryer sculptures. Their sweet baby girl is blessed with two of the most kindest, amazing, funny, creative, beautiful, crafty, strong, talented and loving parents. Lucky girl! I can’t wait to meet her!

On a side note, if Tyra Banks was with us last night, I know she would have said, Dee, you are America’s Next Top Maternity Model! And, you would have thought that Eric taught Derek Zoolander the “blue steel” and not the other way around. They know how to work it!

Why he still goes along with my ideas is beyond me, but I absolutely LOVE him for it! So, this was one of those times I said, “Ali, trust me, it’ll be so great…” and he went with it and this it what happened…

They make me laugh out loud (especially the ninja one)!

Until next time.

xo,
Kristie

A few weeks ago, our family was photographed by the amazingly talented, Molly Winn. Our meeting was truly like the planets aligning. I can’t exactly remember when we first “met” over the internet, but she was living with her adorable family in Ireland for a year and I was living in Florida. It wasn’t very likely that we’d be getting together for tea anytime soon. At the time Molly had a blog that I loved visiting. Her images were incredible! Then around the time we were planning our move to Seattle, Molly and her family were coming back to the states. They were now living in Oregon and we were in Washington, but it wasn’t until eight months later that we met. Molly was in Seattle for sessions and generously offered to photograph our crew.

We met up one Sunday evening, I had just returned from Colorado and she had just finished two sessions. We had to make it work because she was heading home to Oregon the next day, then leaving for vacation and then a week later she and her family were moving to TEXAS! With all that she had going on, I told her that I’d wait for a year for the images, I didn’t care, I was just so happy to have them. Instead, she shared our image last night on her blog, which has lead me to believe that she is SUPER human and truly AMAZING, but I already knew that!!

I can’t even express how I feel about what Molly has given us! I cried looking at the images. They are so us! EVERY one of them melts my heart. I am beyond grateful for my very talented friend. To take a peek at the rest of the session and more of Molly’s fabulous work, you can visit her blog here: http://mollywinnphotography.com/blog/. Make sure you leave her some love (we photographers love comments).

Molly, thank you my crazy talented, super human friend. You have melted my heart and given me something I will cherish forever! xo

xo,
Kristie