OH NO HELP!!

In Savannah's kindergarten class they made a gingerbread man. AND GUESS WHAT?!! HE RAN AWAY! If all of you could keep your eyes out for him and then send a postcard to Savannah's class telling them that you saw him that would be great! If you could let the class know where you saw him too that would be appreciated.
The address is
Mrs. Craven's Kindergarten Class
130 N. Eccles Ave
Ogden, UT 84404
Thanks for keeping a look out.

Fall time=Leaf time

Big bear hug from big sister to little sister.
This is a picture of Savannah trying to show the big snowflake on her eyelash. Can you see it? I actually can't but there are a few in her hair. They really were huge snowflakes that day.


We have two large dome willow trees in our backyard. Every year they wait till the end of Nov to start turning colors and to drop their leaves. Savannah looks forward to the large pile of leaves we have to rake every year. It is big enough adults can actually jump into it. Brian has I haven't. These are pictures of the first of three raking sessions. It always amazes me how many leaves there are, especially since it drops lots of leaves ALL year long, but of course nothing like in the fall. Savannah and Brian raked these ones and then the kids played in them for a little bit. As soon as they had finished raking the leaves it started to snow

Halloween Fun

Savannah was Little Miss Muffett, she had a stick with a spider on it but decided not to take it trick or treating. Madison was Ragedy Ann, but didn't wear her wig as we couldn't really get it to stay on her head. I have lots of pictures of Madison but only this ONE of the two of them. We had a hard time getting Savannah to get ready to GO. She wanted to watch cartoons and Brian and I were confused as to why any child would rather sit inside and watch a dumb cartoon she has already seen as to go and get candy. Seriously what was up with that. The pictures of Madison with the pumpkins also happens to be the only pictures I have of those. I kept forgetting to charge the camera battery and missed out on a lot of cute pictures.


I love the month of October. There is always so much fun stuff going on. I also love to decorate for Halloween. I don't go all out but every year we pick up a few more things after Halloween once they go on sale. This year the day after I out up our webs the wind made a huge mess of them and I just left them. I still enjoyed them though.

Black Island Farms

Off to pick our pumpkins.
Vannah and Daddy picking Vannah's.
Madison sure likes the dirt!!!
Run piggies RUN!!!


This is Brian turning Mads' head for the picture. I thought it was hilarious.

Madison's face is permanently filthy. No matter how I try to keep it clean.
Waiting for her chance to sling corn cobs out into a filed. SOOOOO exciting!!
Chuga chuga choo choo.


Madison pointing at Vannah and waiting till she could get in the jumping house.

Madison enjoyed the guns. Every time she pulled the trigger she would make this little noise of ugh and grin.


The slides, this is actually just one of the slides. There are about four I think. I did the smaller one with the girls but that was it. I am too much of a scaredy cat.

Good ol' fashioned water race. We put in the little duckies and then pushed the water pump to get the water a flowin' and off they went...hopefully.


Buckin' broncos. Ride 'em cowgirls.


Cute lil donkies.
The girls enjoy farm animals.
Feedin' the goats. In the picture below you can see the little pygmy in the background. He was pretty darn cute.


These are pictures from our second trip to Black Island Farms. We decided to go on a Saturday morning and hope it wasn't too crowded. We were content with the turnout and the girls LOVED IT!! We enjoyed every part of it. From petting zoo area, to the water races, the slides, shooting paintball guns, the little train, the giant bouncer, flinging corn cobs into a field, the maze and of course the tractor ride out to get our pumpkins. There is so much to do there. We've enjoyed the activities two years now, I hope that wherever we move to has something similar close by.

Family Fun

Back in October we went to a place called Black Island Farms. Unfortunately, it didn't open till 4 and we were there much earlier than that. Since we drove a good 45 minutes to get there we didn't want to just turn around and go home. Brian had noticed a family fun place and we went back to check it out.
We did a round of bowling(I'm not sure that is what it is called but whatever) and then we did a full course of miniature golf, with black lights. Ohhh spooky. The girls loved it. Their favorite was the bowling. We pulled out the guide and the bumpers for them. Madison was always eager to get her ball and bring it over to the lane. I was nervous she was going to drop the ball on her foot. Luckily, we were always able to get over to the ball retrieval area with her in time to help her.
There were a few parts of the golfing that really did spook the kids a bit. It was a really fun course, well, the decor was fun. The actual course could have been a little better, with bumps and things of that sort. Some of the theme parts were a bit freaky.

Hammin' it up

Madison is so funny. She is always hamming it up for us. If she happens to find my camera she picks it up, hands it to me and says "CHEESE!" over and over again. These few poses are a result of her finding the camera and me not being able to resist taking a few shots. I mean come on, just look at that little face.

Midnight Foot Attacker

The other night I was getting ready for our family to go to my brother Chris' wedding. Brian was at a retreat for work and since I can't sleep when he is gone, I decided to do some cleaning. I took out some garbage, barefoot of course, and all of a sudden I felt some sharp prickly thing sticking my foot. I started to shake my foot thinking I stepped on a random prickly stick that got stuck to one of my cats and ended up in my yard somehow. I looked down to see a preying mantis on my foot. I think it was attacking my second toe, seeing how I ended up with a small spot of blood on that toe. It was so creepy!! After I shook it off it it just stared at me from underneath the garbage can. In the small amount of light I don't think it realized how big I was and thought, "HEY, that looks like a great midnight snack!" It was the length of my palm and left me with the Hibbie Gibbies!! CREEPY!!

Savannah's Black Eye

After my brother's wedding we took the kids to Town Square in Las Vegas. It has a great play area for the kids and our girls have so much fun when we take them. They have a hedge maze and Savannah was going around one corner while a little boy came from the other side and he hit her in the eye with his head. The result she has a real black eye, as opposed to the other two black eyes she had from a head injury resulting in the blood pooling in her eye sockets giving her the look of having been socked in both eyes(she wasn't even two when that happened). The best part is she got it just in time for school pictures this week. It isn't very big and I think I can cover it up with a little bit of makeup but still good grief. It was instantaneous. Brian brought up a good point in that we were lucky it was after the wedding. I think she is still a doll even with a black eye and with crazy hair from falling asleep in the car for several hours on the way home.

First Day of School

My little girl is in kindergarten and I can't believe it. Madison and I walk to school with her in the morning and every morning I am surprised at how grown up she is. She has never cried or even teared up when I leave her. She loves her teacher so far and enjoys going to school. Madison wanted to get a picture taken with Savannah and how could I not, they are both so cute. She also wanted to go in with her big sister. She did really well though when Savannah left. Usually, she cries LOLLI when Savannah leaves. No I don't know where Lolli or Lala came from, but that is what Mads calls her. I think Savannah is so tall especially when looking at her next to her classmates and knowing that she barely made the cutoff this year to go to school so she is one of the youngest in her class.

Thanksgiving Point

During the month of August Thanksgiving Point has $2 Tuesdays. So I took the girls for our last little Hurrah before school started. Madison LOVED petting the animals. Savannah enjoyed it as well but nothing like Madison. I tried to get Madison's excitement documented on video but it doesn't do it justice at all. She could barely contain herself and squealed every time the animals came up to her. I forgot my quarters at the house so the poor little girls were reduced to picking up corn from the ground that others had dropped feeding the animals or from the generosity from strangers. Poor little things. They enjoyed it though and in the end that is what matters the most.

Savannah First Perm

Savannah has curly hair underneath while the hair on top is super duper straight. I decided to have her perm it before school started thinking that MAYBE it would make it easier to do in the mornings. So far it hasn't really made it easier but it has made it super cute.
Savannah was very distraught when we started the whole process but by the end she was a champ. The hairdresser had a male assistant and Savannah would have nothing to do with him. I was thoroughly embarrassed. She wouldn't even let him wash her hair. In the end, Savannah said it was worth it and she was happy with the results, so was I.

Happy Birthday Brian

Before is the bottom picture and after is the top one. We also took off some of the trim under the front. I know there isn't a lot of difference but I don't mind it so much now. It is a sage color whereas before it had over five different shades of blue. In the front were three and in the back there were two more. Now it is all one color, green.

For Brian's birthday we went camping but on his actual birthday my dad and I painted our house, so Brian wouldn't have to. Changing the house's color was really what I wanted but not making him paint it was his gift. He did end up having to do a few touch up spots but overall, it was VERY VERY little. My brother Mike did a bit too to help. I am horribly afraid of heights so he helped where I couldn't reach.
At one point Savannah asked me if I were scared(I was standing on our small ladder that only has three steps on it). I told her I was a bit and she then replied, "But Mom you are only like two feet off the ground that isn't very scary at all. What is the deal?" Yes, Savannah does talk like this, mostly because she talks like me. Needless to say, it was awesome having a five year old point out how ridiculous it is to be afraid while standing so close to the ground, but it didn't change the fear factor for me.

Sourdough camping trip

Daddy and Savannah fishing together.
Madison playing with her Papa.
Savannah's fish.

A good friend of ours has some property in an area called Sourdough and she let us go camping up there. We had a blast. We went up for Brian's birthday weekend since he loves to go camping. My dad came with us and we went fishing. I burnt my nose horribly and got several fever blisters while we were fishing. I put sunblock on the girls but foolishly not on myself . I still have a small scar where my nose peeled, Brian tells me it should heal.

Pioneer Day

It was sooo hot that day. I like how you can tell how much Madison loves her older sister in this picture.

I had never heard of Pioneer Day until I was in college here in UT and not until after I came home from my mission. On July 24th we celebrate the trek the pioneers made from the East and it is a lot of fun for the kids. We went to the parade and then over to the pioneer museum. The girls made a pioneer children game with a button and a string and got little do rags to wear like the pioneers wore. There was a couple there that had outfits similar to those worn by some settlers/mountain men. They had a real tee pee set up and inside different pelts for the kids to feel. They were serious in their mountaineering! It was pretty impressive.

Grandpa's birthday

Bob and Linda came down the night we had Savannah's birthday party for a family reunion. Since Bob's birthday was the following day we all had cupcakes that night to celebrate Bob's birthday. They were just left overs from Savannah's party and I took a close up of them because I thought they were so well done(not by me of course). There is a bakery here in Ogden called Creative Desserts and I had them done there. They were perfect for the carnival theme. I told her I wanted festive fun and bright ones and I was pleased with the results. They had little star sprinkles on top.

Savannah's Fifth Birthday Party

Savannah was given so many beautiful gifts! What a lucky little birthday girl.
Miss Isabelle enjoying one of the rock candy suckers given out. Look at how pretty her face is.
The balloons had little balls in them so they made noises when you shook them. Everything that Buttons did was fantastic. She was so much better then I had expected.
The magic show.

Chloe was timid to get her face done and after her mom got one on her wrist she was willing to get a small one done. I thought she looked adorable.

The potato sack race.
Buttons did the balloons while Savannah opened the gifts. This party was so long. In the end it took around three hours to finish everything.
chuga chuga choo choo!
Look at these faces!
Buttons at work.
Madison enjoying the cotton candy and otter pops we had for the kids.

I know this is out of order but I didn't want frequent visitors of the blog(Lindsay) to swing by for a checkup and miss this one. Savannah turned five this year. I can't believe she is so big now. For her party I did a carnival theme. We had all these little booths for games and a clown that did face painting and a magic show and blew up balloons for the kids and a train for them to go on. It was a blast! Many of the parents stayed to help with their kids which was very nice as well. There were over 25 little ones running around so needless to say it was pretty hectic but very worth it. The face painting was AMAZING!!! She was fast and the best face painter I have ever seen.
Some of the booths we had were a hoola hoop throw, a ring toss, a kissing booth(they were blindfolded and had to place a pair of lips on a frog), tin can knock down, bean bag toss, and a bowling one. We had the kids run a race in potato sacks while we were setting up for the magic show and gifts. In the end I think the kids had some fun.

Take Me Out To the Ball Game

Daddy and the girls with the Raptor. Madison didn't like being next to him and kept hitting his head. It was awesome.

This was the third year we have been able to go to see Raptors play ball. They were playing the Idaho Falls Chuckars. Madison chowed down on the nachos, I was a bit surprised since they are spicy. Brian was able to come with us as well. It is always a fun night with the kids.

Princess Festival

My two beautiful princesses.

Our carriage ride to the ball.

The scary monster in front of the castle. Cinderella and her stepsisters.
Rapunzel's tower.

My super cute Tiny Tinkerbell.
Pulling out the sword from the stone, when Madison saw Savannah she had to try too.

Mad Hatters' tea party.
Tink flying in Never Never Land, both of the girls joined her later.
Dancing with one of the princes at the ball.

This year I noticed a princess festival being advertised here in UT. I decided to look into it and found it was in Lindon. Since we had just gone to Disney I thought it would be fun to continue the princess fun and go with the girls. We bought new dresses for the girls(we got them for pretty cheap at Getaway Travels) and headed down. It was really fun. The girls had to help the princes rescue some of the princesses. Savannah helped save Snow White, Belle, Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. Afterward she was able to meet a few more princesses and play in the different areas they had set up. It was a blast. Both of the girls had so much fun.

The place was really rather impressive as well. It is called Hatfieldadelphia, which is such a mouthful. There were several buildings all built it seemed with the specific purpose of doing this festival, that lasts only one week. There was the castle with the names of the princesses written in stone, a cottage for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the pavilion for Jasmin and Aladin that had a top similar to those found on the castle roof in the movie. It was all very impressive and at the end the little girls helped turn Maleficent good. My only regret, not charging the camera battery the night before.

My little brother

My little brother and his friend Andy went backpacking in the Uinta Mountain range at the first of August and these are a few of the pictures that they took while they were at the lake they camped at. I thought they were hilarious and decided to post them. Andy is in the third picture. If I use the last picture as to whether or not Mike thinks it was OK to post them, it looks like it is all good.

Lofgran Family Reunion

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo!
Savannah was able to chat with Mary Poppins for five minutes seeing as there was NO ONE else there. It was a lot of fun for her to just sit and chat with her. Ms. Poppins was fantastic.

I sure do love our girls.


Look at that face! Watch out or she will get you.



In the tea cup, Madison didn't want to sit next to anyone and that is why she is crying.



Madison makes the funniest little faces. She is such a funny little girl.

For Brian's immediate family we had a little get together in CA. Bob rented a beautiful home near Disney Park and we all were able to stay there. It was a huge house with a wonderful pool in the backyard to cool off in after a long day at the park. This was Madison's first trip to anything Disney and Savannah's first one to Disneyland. She has been to Disney World once. We spent 5 glorious days there. The first day was oh so magical but by the end of our trip Brian and I were exhausted.

The Lion King

cousins

While we were in Las Vegas my brother, his girls, Savannah and I went to see The Lion King. It was AMAZING!! We all loved the costumes and the performances were really well done. Savannah asked as we left if we could see it again in the morning. It was a fun night for all of us.

Our little Gymnist

Back in MAY Savannah participated in a little Olympics with her gymnastics class. She did much better then I thought she would. I don't mean with the actual skills but just doing them in front of other people. She had gymnastics in the morning and dance that afternoon. It was such a busy day and sadly Brian had to do some darn test in SLC all day and missed it all. This next year though... he'll be there.