Logan Wolfram

Enjoying Life for Dessert

Friends for Life…

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I’m home from Montana.

And let me tell you what a welcome we got… we had to get our car jump-started in the Charlotte airport Sunday night at 11:45pm, got home at almost 2am to a broken upstairs A/C and 83 degrees in all the bedrooms, storms for days that had uprooted a 90ft pine in our backyard and debris everywhere.  I spent the greater part of the day yesterday having to get a new car battery and new tires (the tire part was overdue) and then had to have a heating and air guy come fix the A/C in the afternoon.  Turns out that it had been damaged from a giant tree branch falling on it during the storms while we were gone.  WOW!  All to say…that’s why you didn’t hear from me yesterday.

So, I’m rapidly back in the swing of things and have a bridal lingerie shower to plan for this coming weekend.  Whew…it’ll happen, but I sure do already miss the pace of Montana.

Which brings me to something I’ve been dying to share about our trip.  First I should say that for our entire family, this was our most favorite vacation we’ve ever taken all together.  It was perfect for our kids, gorgeous everywhere, and we spent some really special time with extended family and also some old friends.

The friends part though is what I’ve been thinking about the past few days.

I wish I could find at least one really old picture to share with you.  But they’re old and I’m pretty sure that my mom has the bulk of the ones from when I was a little kid.  When we were in Montana we had the chance to get in a couple days visit with a super old friend of mine and his family who live about 4 hours from where we were staying.  The last time we all saw one another was at my wedding almost 8 years ago.  We’ve kept up… but it’s been a long time, and we’ve never met one another’s kids.

My childhood friend, Jeremy, and his amazing wife LB, came to visit along with their 3 adorable children.  They spent Thursday and Friday nights with us in my aunt’s cabin, and Saturday night they stayed in Polebridge (in the cute cabin I’d featured on the blog the other day nonetheless) since my family had to leave Sunday morning.  We adventured over to the east side of Glacier on Friday and hiked, and ate, and in general had the best time all together.  Our kids got along so well that they were actually crossing into being really annoying, LB and I could have talked for days and still not run out of subjects, and the guys honestly seemed to have an almost identical sense of humor.

It was just fun.

Here we all are in the rain before we headed out to Polebridge for part of the day on Saturday.  I’m kinda covering up my Hubs’ head, but do you know how hard it is to get a decent picture with 9 people (5 of which are all ages 5 and under?!)

And here is perhaps one of my favorite pictures from our whole trip…all 5 of our kids together.

Jeremy and I first met when we were about Little Bit’s age (around 17 months old,) and my mom always likes to tell people that he bit me in the nursery at church the first time we met.  What a way to start a friendship huh?!  But the truth is that it must have been, because he was one of my very best friends for as long as I could remember.  We grew up in church together and had the same group of friends all the way through.  A rare group of friends who all loved and respected one another, and still do today.  The kind of friends you know that you were blessed to have had then, and the kind who you know made you into a better person now.  We were all those kind of friends.  We went to one another’s weddings, and these days, life and time has spread us all across not just the country, but even the globe.
I got emotional when we left our sweet friends at Polebridge on Saturday….after adventures in the outdoors, and kids playing together, and meals shared, and late nights talking about faith and life and everything in between.  And I’ve been thinking the past few days about friends like that. About how rare and treasured and few they are.  Friends who have known you before you even really knew yourself…and who are still around…who have grown into the people you always knew they could and probably would be.  The kind who still top your list of people you admire in life.  
To have known a person since I was younger than my own children, and to share time with the families God has blessed us each with, and for each one of us all to feel even more richly blessed in our lives because of our time all together…it’s rare.  And that rarity isn’t the least bit lost on me.
So… despite the insanity that greeted us on our doorstep when we returned home, I choose to still feel overwhelmed not by the chaos of daily life…but rather overwhelmed by the blessings of a full life, and some of the same treasured friends still swirling around in it.  Jeremy, LB, and kiddos… I love you guys.  It was time well spent and my heart is fuller now because of it.
LB has a blog where she writes about life in Montana, and specifically gardening in the harsh Montana climate.  You can check that out HERE if you’re interested.

Polebridge Mercantile Giveaway Winner

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Sorry I didn’t post yesterday. We went to the east side of Glacier with some friends and had a fantastic and crazy day with 5 kids ages 5 and under.  Yeah…it was an adventure.  I’ll write more about that later.  I did want to announce the winner of the Polebridge Mercantile giveaway thanks to Random.org.  Next time I do a giveaway, I have to figure out a better way to number the entrants and need to get all of you guys to leave separate entries for each action…it was tricky to appropriately number your comments based on the time they were left in multiple locations, but my friend who’s an accountant and good with numbers helped me do it properly.  Anyways…the number that won was #17 and that means that winner is…

Clay Danner
I have to tell you that I found this particularly funny… because to my knowledge, Clay is the only man who entered the giveaway this time.  He is also the father of 2 girls…so it seems hilarious to me that he now will be the proud owner of a deer antler slingshot.  I put all the numbers into random.org and Clay randomly won.  I actually do know him in real life since he is a good friend of my husband’s, and I feel sure he will put the prize to hilarious use.
Congratulations Clay!  I’m going back to Polebridge today to take our friends, so I’ll just pick up the prize then and save on the shipping since I know where you live.
 – Logan

Fire for Father’s Day…and more….

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Since I’m out here in the Wild West doing things like hiking, trekking, wild animal sighting, building fires, and roasting marshmallows, I thought I’d share this super cute craft that I came across a couple of weeks ago from crafts.kaboose.com to do with my kids.  It’s a fun way to show a little love to the great outdoors in case you’re maybe not one who really wants to build an actual fire.  Or…if you are a pyromaniac, then this is probably still right up your alley because it looks like fire.

What you’ll need:

  • Old CD
  • Rocks – about the size of a quarter
  • Sticks
  • A handful of soil, dirt or sand
  • White craft glue
  • Small scraps of red, orange and yellow tissue paper
  • Toothpick

How to make it:

  1. Cover CD with glue  and use a paintbrush or your finger to spread the glue out for an even coat. 
  2. Cover glue area with dirt or sand and tap off excess. 
  3. Use your finger to push back a little of the dirt from the edges, all the way around the CD, to make room for the rocks.
  4. Squeeze out a generous amount of white glue onto the cleared edge of the CD. Press a rock into the glue. Repeat until entire rim of the CD is covered in rocks.
  5. If necessary, break sticks into approximately 4 inch pieces. Using white craft clue, build a “fire” with the sticks by laying them down in a teepee formation, gluing as you go. Let everything dry for 2 hours (will not be completely dry, but won’t slide around).
  6. Tear tissue paper into small pieces, approximately 1″ or 2″ squares.
  7. Place tip of toothpick into the center (don’t poke through) of a piece of red tissue paper. Wrap the tissue paper around the toothpick.
  8. Dab some glue on the tip and dip it into the sticks, removing the toothpick once inserted. Repeat around the top of the sticks with several red pieces, and then add a few orange toward the middle, and lastly one or two yellow pieces at the top of the stick mound.
  9. Let project dry completely overnight.

I think it’d be a cute way to do an invitation for an outdoor party or campout as well.  Way more fun to open this than just your standard card invitation. 

Or, just make it for fun…because it’s cute and your kids will appreciate you doing a craft with them.  OR…I just had an even better idea!  Make these this week and invite Dad to a family backyard firepit party for Father’s Day.  Men like fire…Dad would appreciate the gesture, and to really make the gift awesome why don’t you make a special package with the following other items….


S’mores Kit




Leatherman Tool

What Dad wouldn’t love a Leatherman tool, a campfire, and s’mores?!  Or at least be able to appreciate the gesture of it?  Oh yeah, and fix meat and potatoes for dinner.  Try out this recipe for Flank Steak and Roasted Potatoes.  I just made Father’s Day easy for you…and in case you didn’t realize, it’s this coming Sunday the 19th!


Happy crafting, cooking out, and now you have a recipe for happy Dads to boot!
– Logan

Don’t forget to check out yesterday’s post about the Polebridge Mercantile and enter to win the fun prize pack donated by the Mercantile!  Giveaway ends 12noon EST on Friday 6/17!



The Polebridge Mercantile…one of the coolest places EVER!

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Today has been an absolutely incredible day!  My aunt treated Tid Bit, the Hubs, and myself to a helicopter tour over Glacier National Park.  It was another one of those kinds of experiences where words are insufficient.  “Magnificent” is such an understatement.  I could go on and on for days about it and still fall short in my description…get a load of this picture to the left though.  Just breathtaking….
After our helicopter tour, we all went to an off-the-beaten-path place that might just have made it to my list of Top Ten Most Favorite Places Ever (and that’s saying something because I’ve been to some pretty cool places in my life.)
The PoleBridge Mercantile
The place was built in 1914 by a man named Bill Adair.  He originally owned and operated a store in 1907 in what is now Glacier National Park.  When the national park was established in 1910 and a bridge was constructed across the North Fork of the Flathead River, the traffic patterns changed, so Bill and his wife moved to the present location in PoleBridge onto a 160 acre homestead in 1912.  The store was completed in 1914 and an icehouse and shop were added soon after.  From its inception, the store was the social and business hub of the North Fork and a gateway to the new national park across the river.  The 5 buildings of the property (the home, a barn, the mercantile, icehouse, and shop) were added to the National Historic Register in 1983 as a representative of an early Montana mercantile enterprise.  The location has maintained it’s early charm and continues to be one of the last outposts of its kind in the country.

The present day Polebridge Mercantile boasts a bakery, general store and cabins, serving the most adventuresome families, floaters, fishers, hikers, bikers, artists and “lifers”. Nestled up to the primitive west entrance to Glacier National Park, on the Wild and Scenic North Fork of the Flathead River and in the North Fork Valley is where you can find them. 35 miles from pavement, electricity and “civilization” you can find fabulous baked goods, spices, t-shirts, prints, books, etc. from Polebridge artists and complete separation from the everyday grind. No street lights. No cell phone service. Unbelievably serene views.  We ate the most melt in your mouth homemade sandwiches and literally bought every last one of their famous huckleberry coconut macaroons.  The food alone is worth the drive out there, but if you don’t stick around longer than that I promise you’d be missing out!  And, for just $35 per night you can rent one of their adorable cabins and take it all in even more. 

The next time we come out here, it’s on my list of things that absolutely cannot be missed!





The current owners are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met.  Flannery Coats (pictured on the left above, with staff Caroline Canarios on the right) and her husband Stuart Reiswig bought the Mercantile property just 3 years ago and have been serving up authentically old-fashioned goodness ever since.  Flannery told me that part of the agreement with the purchase required an apprenticeship with the bakers who ran the store for years after the Adairs had passed.  The same recipes are still being served with improvements such as the inclusion of more organic and local ingredients. The original home now houses the Northern Lights Restaurant and Saloon where you can also get a bite to eat and a drink to wash it down.
And for some added fun, Flannery agreed to host a giveaway for all of you, my fabulous readers!  The winner will receive a Polebridge Mercantile t-shirt, a slingshot made from a real deer antler, and half a dozen of their famous huckleberry coconut macaroons!!!!  The contest will end at Noon EST on this Friday, June 17th.
How to Enter
Mandatory entry: Like Polebridge Mercantile on Facebook and leave a comment here telling me you did so.

Additional entries:

  • Follow Life for Dessert on Google Connect and leave a separate comment here saying you did so
  • Like Life for Dessert on Facebook and leave a separate comment here saying you did so
  • (if you receive the feed, you can’t just reply to the email to comment.  You must leave separate comments here…it gets seriously confusing to try to order all of the comments from other places based upon when they were left.  If you have trouble leaving comments on the blog, I will count comments left on the Life for Dessert Facebook page towards the entries.)
Loads of thanks to The Polebridge Mercantile for such a fun day today and for hosting this great giveaway!  I promise friends, you do not want to miss out on this!
Happy Trails!
– Logan


Never Cry Wolf…

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Unless… like my mom did this morning, you see one walking by the kitchen window.

This is not the actual wolf we saw.  We didn’t have time to grab our camera and I wasn’t about to walk outside to get a closer view.  As it was, the wolf was literally 15 feet outside of the window over the kitchen sink.  The wolf we saw was scrawny, shedding it’s winter coat, and very hungry looking.  The Montana animal book says to keep a close eye on small children and toddlers when wolves have been sighted.  Yes thank you…I think I will.

I’m a fan of wildlife sightings and all…elk, moose, deer, eagles, ground squirrels…you know, the non-predatory types.  But I’m gonna be honest and say that the idea of sighting a bear on the property, or maybe…a wolf just outside the kitchen window…not on my list of most favorite encounters with wildlife.  I think I’m perfectly happy that I was inside the kitchen and not camping out in the teepee.

Off for more adventures now…hopefully these involve more far-off animals, mountains, and rivers.

– Logan

I think God lives in Montana

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We made it here yesterday safe and sound.  Uneventful plane rides, well behaved kids, and still a full part of the day to spend once we arrived.  We got to Kalispell at 1:30 and spent the entire afternoon just enjoying the view and exploring around.

View from the porch. That’s the Flathead River below and Glacier Nat’l Park in the distance.



Can I just tell you that I have cried like 5 times or more.  The view from just the porch is so majestic I can’t even begin to put the words in any sort of order to accurately describe it all to you.  We took probably 100 or more pictures already yesterday and now this morning something weird is going on with our camera.  THIS is not time for an “Error” to be turning up on our camera.  We’re hopefully going to see if we can find a camera shop tomorrow and get things checked out.  Cross your fingers and say a prayer for me huh?
Little Bit and I were exploring rocks in a tiny stream yesterday on my aunt’s property.  Even just the river rocks are a hundred different colors.  God bothered to color the river stones here.  He is SO creative!  When I see a place like this and I think about my God, I am bowled over by his creative love for me.  He could have made the earth flat and all the same…but he didn’t.  He made it stunning.  He made it more poetic than even the poetically inclined.  He made it all for us…just to enjoy.  I am inclined to think though that God might live in Montana…at least he is this week for sure.
I wish I was poetic.  Really…I wish I knew how to weave words that inspire and invoke the emotions that a place like this leaves you feeling.  Breathlessness.

The sun doesn’t set til late here and the light coming across onto the mountains is just stunning.  At one point last night there was a rainbow, the valley was illuminated in the most golden light, and I made the comment, “The only thing that would complete this perfection would be if a train came around the bend at this exact moment.”

Another view from the porch. The river is just to the left
Not kidding…. “Whoooo….Whooo…Whoooo” off in the distance.  Un-freaking-real!  Check this out.




Really….unreal.
I’m going out to enjoy the day.  Will try to post more later.
– Logan
Now the question lingering in my mind is how on earth do you adequately appreciate thanks to the people providing this opportunity?  This cabin and the 100 acres around it belong to my aunt and uncle.  They are letting us stay.  “Grateful” is a word that falls short this week too.  Words are clearly not gonna cut it this week…let’s cross our fingers and hope that my camera will magically fix and that my pictures can describe for you better than my fingers on these keys.

Montana Bound…

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So, tomorrow I’m finally gonna put my new kicks to work because we are headed out to Montana for a little over a week.

I hope that the state is ready for us!  And more than that, I hope that the passengers on our flights are ready for our kids.  Oh my words…do you remember my last flight with my 5 year old and 15 month old lap child?!  If not, go HERE for a refresher…let me just say that I don’t know if you’re ever really prepared for travel with children no matter how well prepared you think that you may be.  I’m just asking the Lord that our travel be on time and uneventful….I’m under no illusion that my kids would actually sleep or sit perfectly quietly, and there are certainly other miracles I’d rather the Lord attend to than that!

I’m hoping to post a few times while I’m gone, but in case you don’t hear from me every day, just know that it’s because I’m trekking around out west!  I’m so excited I can’t even tell you!  If I was really awesome I’d have scheduled some guest bloggers while I was gone I suppose, but I didn’t…only occasional awesomeness can be expected from here I guess.

I’ll do my best to keep you posted on our trip in all of it’s snow-capped mountainous glory at least some though.  I’m pretty excited to escape this unbelievable heat wave that’s been sweeping through the South lately too…50’s, 60’s, and 70’s here I come!  Can I tell you how pumped I am that I don’t even need to pack shorts…and how much more excited I am because that means that I have a week hiatus in the middle of summer from shaving my legs!  Oh yeah…I’m getting granola on you all.  Don’t worry, I won’t let the pits get out of control though…that’s just nasty.

Anywho, I’ve got to finish packing…there are suitcases and clothes spread all over my room!  I’m determined to pack all 4 of us (and our gear) into just 3 suitcases since each additional one is $50 each way…um no thanks.  Do you know how much chalk paint I could buy with that money?!

Happy trails friends!

31 Gifts Giveaway Winner!

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I bet you’ve all been wondering who won the super fun bag from Thirty-One Gifts?!

Thank you to random.org for generating a completely random number, and that comment was…

#32 Chris and Katie said…
The large tote is my fave! I want it!!!   
So, Chris and Katie…Congratulations!  It appears that the large tote must have wanted you too!
Also, the second winner selected by random.org to win 20% off of your total order was….
I follow Life For Dessert on Google Friend Connect!
If ya’ll would send me an email to LifeforDessert at gmail dot com with your name, address, and emails then I’ll pass your information along to Lauren so that she can get Chris and Katie’s bag in the mail, and Kenan’s discount applied to an order!  Congratulations to both of you!
If you’re super bummed that you didn’t win, which I always am because seriously, I never win anything, don’t be dismayed!  If you order this month then you can take advantage of the following special and still get your tote!

 
Thanks to everyone for entering and I’ll host another fun giveaway soon!  Help Life for Dessert reach 150 followers and we’ll have one for sure then!  It’s fun for me to line up great giveaways and who doesn’t like winning something free and clear?!

Congratulations again to #32 and #7!


Giveaway!!! Tote from 31 Gifts!

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I promised you a giveaway once I reached 100 followers on here, so here goes making good on that promise!
My amazing sister-in-law, Lauren, is a consultant for 31 Gifts. You may know about them because they make some super cute and stylish purses, accessories and products to help organize the lives of busy women and their families. Or you may not know about them at all, so consider this your introduction.  
31 Gifts makes loads of fun items to meet the needs of just about anyone!  Their mission is “to celebrate, encourage and reward women through offering quality products and an outstanding opportunity to become successful business owners.”  They have tons of great patterns and anything can be personalized. 
Today, we’re giving away this great multi-purpose tote!  I’m always on the look-out for any good sized bag to get all of my gear around and half the time I end up grabbing a reusable grocery bag…which is not cute.  This bag though is perfect for a trunk catch all, grocery store tote, pool or beach tote, sports equipment and many more!  The tote is wipe-able material so perfect for all the fun crazy stuff you do will your kids!  Check it out!
This giveaway will end at noon tomorrow, Friday June 10th.  And here are the rules for how to enter.

Mandatory 1st entry – Check out the 31 Gifts catalogue and come back here and leave a comment with the name of your favorite item.

For additional entries:

  • Follow Life for Dessert on Google Connect and tell me you did so in the comments section
  • Follow Life for Dessert on Facebook and tell me here that you did it
  • recruit friends to follow Life for Dessert and when they enter, tell them to put your name in their comment with their item selection so that I can credit you for each recruit
  • Follow LifeforDessert on Twitter
  • Repost this post on Facebook or Retweet on Twitter (1 entry for each action) and let me know what you did.
  • Like 31 Gifts on Facebook HERE and tell me you did so

I’ll also be randomly selecting a second winner who will receive 20% off of his/her favorite item for purchase.  I’ll announce the winners tomorrow, so get commenting!

PS. If you have trouble commenting on here for any reason, I will count comments on the Facebook page as entries as well!

Food for Thought…The Unqualified…

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Have you ever thought to yourself…
“I really need to get in shape so that I can go to the gym.”
If you’ve ever been to a gym at a low point in your fitness regime (meaning, you haven’t been in ages and your butt is about as flat as the exercise bench…or your belly is about as round and mushy as a Bosu ball)…then I’d be willing to bet that you’ve seriously considered doing some running for a couple of months and THEN coming back to exercise in the company of others.  
If you’ve never had that thought, then consider *THIS* the part where I just kicked you in the teeth because I’m jealous of your round butt and flat abs and superior perspective. 
Seriously though, what is it about thinking we have to get ourselves in shape before we can really get in shape?  Or thinking we have to get our lives “on track” before we can even talk to God?
Have you ever been in a place in your life where you thought to yourself… “What a mess I’ve made.  Once I get things straightened out I’m really going to start praying again….or going to church again….or whatever?”
I heard a really cool thought the other day…
Oftentimes, the very thing that we think disqualifies us for work in the Kingdom of Heaven, is actually our most qualifying attribute.
Most of you know that I have lost 2 babies.  In so many ways, God continues to redeem those losses by allowing me to breathe life into others who are walking a path similar to my own.  The very loss, struggles, and pain…some of my many “disqualifiers”… are some of the things that I continue to find God using most for good as I continue to step forward in my life.  Because I’ve walked a hard road, I can see some of what that road could look like for other people…I’m aware of a need, and thus I’m more equipped to help meet it.
Maybe you’ve dealt with addiction and think that keeps you from being worthy of even coming before a perfect God.  Maybe you’ve horribly wounded a relationship and think that keeps you from being able to pour into others.  What if you had an affair, does that keep you from ever being able to have a good marriage again, or perspective for maintaining a marriage?  Perhaps you have lost a person in your life and think your overwhelming grief for months or years disqualifies you from being able to ever share laughs or joy again.  Maybe you think that your own failure to triumph over anything nullifies your ability to have wisdom for others.  I don’t know what your thing is, but we all have something.
“What you are determines what you see…
and what you see determines what you do.”
And we all see things differently.  We notice pain in others differently, we notice joy differently, we all have differing perspectives on everything because we’ve all walked different paths in life.  But our different hardships don’t disqualify us from doing good, but rather we are empowered because of wisdom gained from walking through hardships.  When you have walked through a particular fire, you’re more equipped to help someone else do it too…and perhaps do it even better than you did.
I don’t know, I’ve been thinking about this for a few days….running back in my mind to my failures, my inadequacies, my struggles…the things that I’d think could get in the way of me living a life that is pleasing to the Lord.  You know…the stuff that I’ve crapped up.  And I keep noticing the same things as I retrace steps and rethink processes and directions I’ve taken…I learned something each time, with each thing.  Some good stuff and some bad stuff, but no matter what I learned, I’m more aware of those things in life…in others.  I’m more aware of how to encourage someone, to help someone, to meet a need.  My disqualifiers make me more qualified to overcome than if I hadn’t dealt with them in the first place.  I remember a post I wrote some time back HERE, and there was a quote I’d just heard that said…
“You can’t overcome something you never underwent.”
And I’m reminded of that thought again:  That the things I’ve undergone make me even more qualified to overcome again…and again…and again…and to be used for great things for God because of them.
I don’t have to be fit before I get started on fitness.  I don’t have to be perfect before God can use me. Just think of all the time we waste… deferring what could be present greatness as we prepare to actually achieve it in the future.
I’m qualified just as I am for greatness NOW…
and SO ARE YOU.