Kristie Serra Photography Blog »

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

Just a little bit of what we have been up to this last month.

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!

… the time we were 17 and I had lost my keys (for the 100th time) and left my packed bag accidently at my house just before a weekend long high school trip. I said to Ali, “trust me, we’ll just borrow your dad’s ladder and your mom’s minivan and we’ll go over to my house and I’ll climb up to the second story and go in through my bedroom window to get my bag.” Well, surprisingly that all went as planned, but on the ride back to his house, I wasn’t holding the ladder as tightly as I should have and when we came to a quick stop, the ladder went through his mom’s windshield! OUCH!

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

Just a few weeks ago I worked with this beautiful family in Colorado. Little C. was sitting up and making the most adorable and hilarious faces. His mommy shared with me last week that he’s now crawling, saying “mama” and pulling himself up! Oh, and he doesn’t seem to be making that hilarious face expression anymore either. Talk about a busy few weeks! I am so glad I was there to capture him before he decided to make all these big changes! I’m always amazed at how quickly things change, especially in my own kiddos. Even a day can make a huge difference. I am so very grateful to have the ability to freeze time with my camera, to hold a moment in time still long after my memory is gone (and, boy, do my memories go quickly these days). So, moms, dads and grandparents, try not to blink too fast and in between those blinks, take lots of pictures because as we both know, things change pretty quickly!

This month it’s a whole lot of Quigley! This was my attempt at changing the sheets on my bed. I got them off just fine, but getting them back on was another story. And, after we were done playing, I actually had to vacuum the bed (yes, vacuum on the mattress and all), which made my twins hysterical with laughter. Ha!

Oh, these three… I adore them! They make me laugh hard and smile big. They are so sweet and oh-so-funny! They loooove their stuffed animals (kiddos after my own heart) and they love to read. And the glasses in the images? Well, they belong to their grandma. She keeps them at their house and uses them to read to the girls, so we thought we’d have a little fun with them–and fun we had!

Working with the girls was a blast. They were such troopers because it was a hike to get to our little spot, but it didn’t seem to phase them one bit. The oldest of the three is especially adored by my boys. They were in the same kindergarten class and we’re hoping that they will remain together in first grade. Fingers crossed! And, as much as my two love spending time with these three, I love spending time with their mom! I’m so thankful that our kiddos brought us together.

I have so many favorites from their session, this might be a little overboard, but it was hard to narrow it down. I hope they put a smile on your face!

xo,
Kristie

Today I am celebrating my dear sweet friend’s birthday. Last year I could cross the street to give her a birthday hug, but this year it would take me a couple of days to get there by car. Lucky for me, I was able to give her lots of pre-birthday hugs during my trip to Colorado.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of photographing Jess’ family. The session was over, but we found this dreamy patch of grass and sunlight and spent an extra five minutes playing with the sun. I choose these images to share because they remind me of Jess, so warm and full of light. This beautiful friend of mine has a heart like no other and a spirit that shines so bright. She’s a wife, a mommy, a daughter, a sister and an amazing friend. I’m always inspired by her, always wishing she was a mom before I was, so I could have learned from her sooner. I adore her and feel so blessed to have her in my life, so. very. blessed!

Happy, Happy Birthday, Jess! I love you to the moon and back! xo

If you were a child or teen in the 80’s there’s a good chance you know about the Truffle Shuffle.  If you have no idea what I’m talking about, then you have to go rent/borrow/buy or add the Goonies to your Netflix queue. Although, I’m not sure if seeing it for the first time as an adult would lessen it’s charm, but either way, I think it’s a risk worth taking. The movie recently celebrated it’s 25th anniversary. The celebration took place at the beginning of June in Astoria, Oregon, where it was filmed. It’s only a three hour drive for us, so we thought we’d take our first trip to Oregon and join in the FUN!

Astoria is absolutely charming and it happens to be the oldest American settlement west of the Rockies. We learned a lot on our Astoria Riverfront Trolley ride! Ha! After a day of visiting “Mikey and Brand’s” house, the Lower Columbia Bowl (famous for “Chunk’s” milkshake scene and where all three boys in our family got beat by a girl–a proud moment for me), the old Clatsop County Jail (scene of the Fratelli jail break, now home of the Oregon Film Museum) and the Flavel House Museum (scene of “Mr. Walsh’s” museum curator job), we headed to Fort Stevens State Park for our first family camp out.

It rained, but we didn’t get too wet. Convincing my A. that I had to actually spray the insect repellent on him and not on the mosquitos took some convincing. It was hilarious and so was the smell of our “natural” repellent. Poor Ali, we made him face the swarms of mosquitos to spray himself outside of the car because we were all choking from the smell inside the car. But, we were chemical free and pretty much free of bites too. It did it’s job! Despite the mosquitos, we all loved camping and we are now officially hooked!

Our last stops before heading home included the Astoria Column, which Ali and M. climbed to get an amazing view of the city and surrounding rivers, bay, mountains and Pacific Ocean and the 17th Street Dock, where I made friends with lots of California Sea Lions. I only wish I could have taken them all home with me! Quigley could have had more brothers!

It seems as my boys are getting older that time is going at warp speed. It’s easy to get caught up in the day to day, so I am grateful for these fun memories and for taking the time to go have a little adventure. Thanks for letting me share it with you…

Hey Goonies fans, there is already talks of the 30th Goonies Anniversary celebration! You can find the group on facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=127484930617199. Yes, I’ve already joined!

xo,
Kristie