Putting together a photography business is probably easier than putting together other businesses - especially when you've already done it before but it can still be pretty laborious so I thought I'd share a little of the process of putting this one together.
When we decided to move from Texas I was sure I was done with professional photography. I was feeling burnt out and ready for a change. I think having a baby is a huge part of that. Marisa and I had talked about getting our studious together in the past but now I was done. After I moved in, I left for a reunion in Idaho. While I was there my sister in law was showing me portraits she had had taken and they were so cute. And then my friend Tyan started to really get into her photography and she was getting really good at it. And
I started to feel the itch. Sometime around the 5th of July I called Marisa. I had had a change of heart and told her I wanted to do a business together - she was immediately on board and we started talking about the style we wanted and all that stuff. We knew a name would be really important so we spent the next ten days going back and forth about names. We thought of "m studio" since we're both "m" names but it seemed too stuffy. My parents suggested "phabulous photography" but that seemed
a little too cheesy. After a few days we actually settled on:
lolo photography
We liked that for 2 or 3 days but then Marisa'a husband said he didn't see anything special about it and we agreed so we went back to the drawing boards. I looked up every single word for sisters/twins/best friends/etc. in every language and came up with pretty much nothing. I poured over mythologies from all over the world trying to find something that rang true to our style/personalities. I was truly exhausted of the process when finally one night I gave up and climbed into bed after midnight. I couldn't sleep as I tossed all sorts of names around in my head. I started thinking about what Marisa and I were like growing up and tried to think if there were any famous characters that were like us, "Betty Boop? No. Annie? No.......GIDGET! Yes!" Gidget is a tomboy who wants to do everything the boys do but at the same time she's always dreamily thinking about the boys...sound familiar? And right when I thought of Gidget "Moondoggie" came into my head.
(If you've seen the old Gidget movie you might remember that Gidget was obsessed with a hot surfer who went by "moondoggie" . Throughout the movie Gidget is always sighing and saying, "Oh moondoggie...") And I knew I was in love with the name. I woke Michael up and told him the name and he sleepily said, "Ya, that's great." Though he didn't remember that the next morning. I still couldn't sleep so I went downstairs and googled it and saw that there were a few little companies like moondoggie coffee and what not but pretty much nothing bad out there. I was totally excited and hurriedly texted the name to Marisa and went to bed.
Marisa wasn't immediately taken by the name until she had some time to run it over in her brain. I explained that I thought it was fun, funky, playful, and totally memorable. I thought our work would fit right with all of that. She agreed and then we moved on to our logo. This is our first incarnation:
I like the font
helvetica and I think it's cool and modern so we agreed on this for a while. But then there was the subject of what colors so we went over these choices....
We stayed with the pink and grey but then I started to yearn for more and thought maybe a different font...so we thought about changing it from one to another:
You might not see the difference between the two but the second seemed more youthful. But still after a couple days I was getting a little bored of this so I emailed this idea to Marisa:
Ugh! What a mess! Neither one of us liked this too much but it got our wheels turning...
No, not this....
And then this:
I loved it and Marisa did too except she wasn't too hot on the colors. We wanted it to be fun but vintage looking so we tried some other combos:
Marisa liked them all and I liked none of them. We played around a little more and decided we liked the combo of pink and yellow. It seemed too poppy still so we distressed it a little and ended up here:
And thus we have a logo.
It then has taken weeks to get our site up and running. You wouldn't believe how long it takes to write bios/details/price lists/etc. but it seems to be finally wrapping up. So now we're up and running.
I am actually really glad I changed my mind about doing photography. I think all the difference has been giving up doing what I don't enjoy and only doing the style I want to. And it helps immensely to share the stress with Marisa. Thank goodness I got unlimited minutes when I moved up here because we have been on the phone 24/7. In the past when Marisa and I talked about doing a business together I was always a little apprehensive that if we did it would ruin our friendship. She didn't agree and I am glad she didn't because it's actually been great. We are just different enough to have our strengths and weaknesses compliment one another. We've done a few sessions together so far and it has been a blast. I can't wait to see how these next several months go....
Wish us luck!
This is my favorite fabric. It was the last of the last of it in the store. I noticed while making these that they are in the color scheme I suggested several months ago and then chickened out of. I realized I had too much green to go with pink and yellow. I realized today that this pillow is the missing link between my stuff and those cute colors. You can't tell but that light color in the pillow is pink.
Tomorrow school will start for most kids here in Springville but Elijah won't be going to public school this year. This year, he will be homeschooled. 
First off, for the fourth of July we went up to Boise and stayed at Mike's brother's house. We love going there because Mike's parent's street always does a parade with all of the families. And they make real floats and everything!
Here's Elijah standing proud with his decorated bike.
I love this one of Peter - he seems to be deeply considering our freedoms... 
Also, if you remember we were there last year and saw for the first time the amazing show put on by Mike's neighbor. He wears all black and gets his clothes soaking wet so that he can hold the fireworks - all in all, it's slightly napoleanesque. 
But the boys eat it up and think he is the coolest thing ever. I have to admit, it is pretty impressive.
We have been really happy here. It just feels right to be back in Utah. It feels like home.
This is quintessential Andrew. He is so expressive. This was excitement over a rainbow. I know, Andrew, I love rainbows too.
Last Tuesday we went up to Payson Lakes and it was a wonderful day. I know some of you said you wanted to come along but I didn't want to share the view of me in a swimsuit with any friends so...
This is Mike hanging in the backyard. The weather has been really nice lately so we like to sit out there as much as possible. It gets old to look at pics of kids all the time so I thought I'd put this up here.
And this is the view from our backyard. Maybe it's not much of a view to most of you but I love seeing even the tops of the mountains.
This is from our trip to the Springville Art Museum yesterday. I have to admit that we are absolutely in love with this little town and if we end up moving closer to Salt Lake, it'll be hard to leave.
Of course, Elijah was really interested in the machines...and Mike rockin' it with the baby bag. 
This is just priceless.
And one more of our beloved Springville with a view of Timpanogos.
Putting together a photography business is probably easier than putting together other businesses - especially when you've already done it before but it can still be pretty laborious so I thought I'd share a little of the process of putting this one together.
Marisa liked them all and I liked none of them. We played around a little more and decided we liked the combo of pink and yellow. It seemed too poppy still so we distressed it a little and ended up here:
I love you Elijah. It's a tough job being the oldest, but you are doing a really great job at it. I can't wait for all of the adventures we're going to have together.
