Christmas cards

I know it's August, but in my book that means plan for Christmas cards! I start thinking about Christmas cards early Summer and around the end of July I book a photographer if that's the route we're (by we, I mean me, John couldn't care less) going to go that year.

This year finding a photographer hasn't been an easy step. I liked the photographer we used two years ago, but I like to branch out and get different styles. I focused on pet photographers, most of the ones in Utah didn't impress me, but I did narrow down my list. I found a girl I really liked and her prices seemed reasonable so I emailed her to get more information. I like having all the photos taken on a CD so I asked the price and I was blown away by her response. She wanted $625 for the CD plus the charge for her time! That is just ridiculous so she was dropped of my list.
A friend of a friend is starting out and her price is very reasonable, but she's mostly a people photographer. I explained that I wanted to focus on the dogs and less on John and I with a few group photos and she seemed really excited. I scheduled to get the pictures done on October 8th.
 I told her that I didn't want to do Millcreek since most of my pictures are taken there so she suggested  Daybreak. I'm down for that as long as I can keep Makoa out of the water and dry for most of the shoot.

I also start drafting Christmas letters, as crazy as that sounds :) My blog is really helpful to remember what has gone on over the year. Not everyone gets a letter, especially if they read my blog, sorry ya'll.
There are many sites to use when printing off the picture card, but I use Shutterfly for the ease and look of the program. They also have pretty good deals if you print early. To me that's very important, I like having my cards in the mail by the first week of December.

If I'm sent Christmas cards they're placed in their spot of honor on my doorway ribbon:

It's never too early to start thinking about Christmas cards! It's all in the planning!