I am willing to bet that there is probably very little in life that is cooler than turning five.  At least, after looking through these pictures of this sweet birthday party, that’s the story I am sticking with.

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to be a part of this special little girl’s fifth birthday and I loved every single minute.  She is so special to me and makes me so excited about having a little girl to enjoy and to dress up and party plan with.

This 5th birthday was unique because this little girl’s mother is not only one of my best friends, but also a EXTREMELY talented event planning & design hobbyist!  Remember my epic baby shower??  Yeah, she was behind that AMAZINGNESS too!

Lyric’s party was drenched in details. Everything fancy for the sweet princess she is, complete with little miniture snack size portions of her favorite treats: macaroni & cheese, chicken fingers, fruit kabobs, mini hot dogs and more, a cupcake making bar, a morning at the spa complete with mani & pedi’s, as well as two photoshoots: one to showcase turning the BIG “5″ and one to celebrate with friends.   Every single detail was thought out and planned with great care.   One of Lyric’s favorite story book characters is a young girl named Nancy from the “Fancy Nancy” children’s book series.  In the series Nancy plays dress up and does very fancy things, Lyric’s mom pulled elements of Nancy into her Parisian birthday bedroom inspired party.

Needless to say, it was not only a honor to photograph this little girl but to be a part of supporting her mom in the planning of her special day.  The party ended as it should with a pinata of candy and a fun arts and craft project.  Since all of the attendees were or had just turned five years old, they used the opportunity to chronicle the special time in their life by creating golden handprints on canvas!

Such a blessing to have creative parents!  I look so forward to watching Lyric grow through this year!

If you are looking to do something special for your little love or wanting to throw a epic event/shower or party and need a boost, help or some ideas – I have the perfect person in mind!  Shoot over a email to info@ikeandtash.com and I will connect you!   You will not regret it – not a single event will be planned without this talent’s help!

XOXO

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This post is so special to me because it highlights one of my oldest friends.  I met Andrea in freshman English, 13 years ago.  We have been friends since.  We cheered together, did college together, entered the working world together and now get to finally share our family’s together.   She is the first wedding ever that we get to shoot that features someone who has known us before photography and its such a honor to be the one to capture her special day.  Andrea has been such a solid friend and a beautiful example to me of hard work and dedication over the years!  She has inspired and motivated me to go for the things I love and to stick with it until the goal is accomplish! I am thrilled that she has found someone to love and that loves her so much and we are excited to watch their love blossom!

We spent one Saturday afternoon in Downtown Tacoma, hanging as friends and snapping pictures along the way- below a few for your enjoyment!

Congrats Corey and Andrea….  August is right around the corner!  Love you guys!

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Wisdom is on the move & giving me a complete run for my money.  She is learning how to crawl, which at the current moment looks a little bit like a exasperated breast stroke into the carpet with many, many breaks to breathe in between.  Can’t be easy trying to drag a 23lb body across the room at 7 months.  Its crazy how quickly the time has gone. I remember last week we were napping on the couch beneath our living room window bathed in sunlight.  She had a simple routine which included: eating, sleeping, diaper changes and cooing every once in a while – on some special days we got half smiles while she dozed in and out of sleep.  Fast forward 7 months and we have a child who jumps and dances and sings, and swims into the carpet frequently. She has discovered the amazing sound her mouth can make, that she can rub her lips together and make the “zzzzzzzzzzz” sound and that we become captivated as she drenches us with her spit.  She has a little opinion now and prefer bananas over peas, nursing over bottles and “Dinosaur Train” over “Curious George.”  She is full of joy and laughter, wakes us up every morning with her songs and immediately gets excited when she recognizes special voices on the phone (her most favorite her G’ma & her Aunt MM).  Its been a wild ride with this sweet girl, one that I am thankful I get to get on every day.

Sunday morning as we lounged around, hungover from a wedding the previous day before (not from alcohol) I pulled out the camera and Wisdom and I danced!

Below a few shots from our 20 minutes session.

Its been so fun experiementing with different editing styles for our personal projects.  Below, images edited with VSCO LR Presets.

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I am almost positive that 2012, among many other things, was significant because of the rebirth of the “Baby Boom.”  I easily can count 20+ people I know who were pregnant before me, with me or after me, of which 5 of them were in my family (5 cousins, 5 NEW baby girls).  In addition to some really cool slumber and dress up parties with 1st and 2nd cousins – I had the joy of walking this journey with a few of my friends too, Junko who just happens to be one of them.

When I found out Junko was pregnant, I think I screamed, jumped and smiled harder then I did when I found out about my Wisdom.  Motherhood was a desire of Junko’s heart that she had been waiting so patiently for.  If you know Junko at all, you know that she is a giver.  That she loves God with all of her heart, that she loves people and that she is the true definition of a servant.  If you know Junko, you know that she is nurturing and kind, lovely from the inside out, the definition of a commited wife and would be the most brilliant mother!  I was excited to find out that my walk to motherwood would be down a path with a friend – and its been a joy sharing this journey with her.  Its very obvious that this blog post is late.  Junko had her son exactly 8 weeks to the day after Wisdom was born (August 31st).  Enzo Zion made his mark on the world Oct 31, 2012 & we had the honor of taking his newborn pictures! I look forward to sharing those soon (late but never too late to share such joy!).

Congrats Junko and Ivan on beautiful Enzo!

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Special thanks to Amy Ballard of Amy B Photography for second shooting that day while Latasha, nine months pregnant stayed home with Braxton Hicks!

Ceremony Venue: Immaculate Conception Church, Seattle, WA

Reception Venue: Rosehill Center

Caterer: Rum Bar Cafe

Florist: Always Affordable Flowers

Cake/Dessert: Mike’s Amazing Cakes

Music/DJ Christina Kairuz

Videographer: Jesse Michener

Rental Equipment: RR Party Rentals

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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.  Proverbs 1:7

Happy Friday!

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I have the joy of being a part of a beautiful photography community called Pursuit 31, a Christian community full of woman who like me are in LOVE with pictures and anything surround the creative process really.  The last couple of years I have had the complete honor of leading a group of Seattle ladies both in online forum as well as in person and a couple of years ago (I know, I know… I have been meaning to blog this for a while now) I called up Karen, creator and founder  of Pursuit 31 & suggested a Seattle retreat & the crazy idea of a wedding based around the children’s board game “Candyland.”

I am ALL for the vintage wedding trend that has OVERTAKEN today’s wedding industry BUT I am in love with BOLD bright colors.  As a child, the game “Candyland” always was my favorite because of the mysterious stops along the board, Candy Castle, Gingerbread Plum Trees, Molasses Swamp, the Peppermint Forest…. and all of the really amazingly delicious iconic stops along the board.  It was my favorite game, and I couldn’t get enough of it.  Daydreaming of bring it to life as a stylized wedding was truely a dream come true and WE LOVED the outcome.  Brides, if you want to have a really amazing wedding and wow your guests, take a look at some of the fantastic details below!

Bride & Bridesmaid Dresses~ Ouma 

Floral Design ~ Paisley Petals

Cupcakes ~ Sweet Melody’s

Model Styling ~ Rok Kandi

Hair ~ Lockes on Location

Makeup ~ Anna Groves

Tables, Chairs, Place Settings ~ AA Party Rentals

Linens & Lounge Furniture ~ Trendy Event Rentals

Umbrellas ~ Bella Umbrella

Picture Frames ~ The Organic Bloom

Fabulous Catering for Style Team, Models & Attendees ~ Joeseppis Catering

We also couldn’t have done it without these fabulous people!

Thanks to : April Greer, Dawnet Davis, Isaiah Haynes for helping make this day such a success!

More HUGE thank you’s to our FABULOUS models for braving the cold and rocking out these photos for us!

Models: Latasha, Donovan, Aubreeana, Danielle, Joe, Prince

These AMAZING companies deserve HUGE thanks!

Black River Imaging

ThinkTANK photo 

The Organic Bloom 

Pixel 2 Canvas 

Showit Fast

Black Rapid 

MadiLu Designs 

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Meet Trevor.  Meet Julia.  They were married last August, two short weeks before Wisdom was born.  Isaiah was already shooting a wedding that day & they were JUST looking for bridal portraits.  We were ALL nervous that I wouldn’t be able to do the job, let alone ALONE, but two hours in sweldering heat, we held eachother hands and we made it!  Julia and Trevor were married at Camp Peace, a beautiful church located in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood and had a reception for their local friends and family at Pt. Defiance Zoo & Aquarium.  I headed over them and we visited all of the different parts of the zoo and took portraits along the way.

Julia and Trevor are such a beautiful couple, totally devoted to their community and to eachother.  I was encouraged by their story of sacrifice, as both of them work with inner city and at risk young people and inspired by their love and devotion for one another.  Recently, I saw a mutual friend while out and found out that these two lovebirds are expecting their first child!  I am so thrilled to hear that.  A child couldn’t be born to two more perfect people!

Check out their portrait session below!

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