Logan’s Story
A BOY Full of Passion and zest for life!
Logan was born on Dec 29, 2005, the second child of Chad and Lara Lusher. He was born at Fort Belvoir Military Hospital in Alexandria, VA- a healthy baby boy with very broad shoulders and a tiny butt!
Logan was such an easy baby. At only a few months old, he was calm and observant, watching his rambunctious big sister intently. Being the second child, he was dragged everywhere and could fall asleep anywhere. He even fell asleep into his cereal bowl on one occasion! His adorable and humorous behavior made everyone laugh and still does!
By age 1, Logan was running around everywhere. He especially liked to climb things, and was very industrious in his efforts to reach objects placed in high cabinets. He would find random chairs, trash cans, other climbable objects, and we would often find him on the counter/on top of the refrigerator/perched in some other precarious location. He sampled most new objects by placing them in his mouth, but despite this, he was strong and healthy!
Logan developed his first real passion during his second year. He fell in love with letters! How he loved his bath tub letters and his floor mat letters, and the Leap Frog Letter Factory video (which he would watch over and over). In a very short time, he knew what every letter “says”, and you could hear him singing refrains from the video. At 18 months, he had mastered upper and lower case letter sounds, and by 2, he could write most capital letters. Once those were mastered, he moved on to numbers. He started skiing, but truly, his favorite part about being on the mountain was reading the numbers on the lift poles and making the letters “A” and “I” with his skis!
When Logan was 3 years old, he had two passions: times tables (which he learned through playing a cool video game called Timez Attack) and Thomas the Tank Engine. Logan became obsessed with these things. It was odd hearing him rattle off multiplication problems, helping 4th graders with 11×12! He also knew every train in the Thomas series: it’s color, it’s number, it’s personality, and of course, it’s name. He had hundreds of trains, thanks to his Bubbe, and he would surround himself with them all, finding comfort in the chaos. He also taught himself how to read – watching the Leapfrog Talking Word Factory video over and over, and asking his mom what all the signs on the road said. His little brain was on fire, and it was fun to see him get so wrapped up in these loves!
At 4, Logan discovered dinosaurs. He loved all dinosaurs big and small, and could tell you anything and everything about them. He also started gymnastics where he learned to do a pretty good cartwheel, and soccer, where he scored lots of goals! He continued to ski and swim, improving in both.
When Logan was 5,his interest in dinosaurs continued to grow. He found an interactive toy/gaming program called Xtractors, where you could combine different dinosaur DNA to come up with new species. He loved this game, and was very creative with his inventions. This sparked some serious interest in becoming a paleontologist, and he would never tire of going to the Ogden Dinosaur Park to learn! On top of his self learning, Logan began Kindergarten as well as piano lessons. He was a little knowledge sponge, but didn’t forget to exercise his body either with soccer, hiking, swimming, and skiing!
Logan completed first grade when he was 7 and began second grade – his favorite year of elementary school! He continued in the Chinese immersion, mixed martial arts, and soccer. He loved to read, and went through the entire series of Magic Treehouse books – all 52! He went on a fun family trip to Yellowstone with his cousins, and they all had a great time seeing the sites and camping.
At 8,Logan was a fun kid! He finished out second grade and began third. He played a ton of soccer, his team dominating their age group. He enjoyed the Harry Potter Stories, and even got to go on the “Ride to Hogwarts” train in Heber. His new passion was Skylanders, and again, he learned every figure and all it’s traits. His is most exciting trip that year was to Zion National Park where he hiked Angel’s Landing, and hiked/floated the Narrows in a dry suit! When hiking, every course was turned into an “American Ninja Warrior” course, as the family watched the show regularly. It was even the theme of his 8th birthday party! We had started construction on our house in Park City, so Logan spent some time up at the lot getting to know a little about the construction trade.
When Logan was 9, he finished out 3rd grade, his last one at Bates Elementary in North Ogden, and moved to Park City. There he entered 4th grade at Jeremy Ranch elementary, where he had a blast! He continued to play soccer, and started playing basketball too. He skied at his favorite mountain, The Canyons, a couple times each week. He continued his love of Skylanders and was Kaos for Halloween. He loved his new home, his new house, and his new city. He had a super fun sledding birthday party in the back yard, which had over 6 feet of snow that winter!
When Logan was 10, he found himself settled and thriving in Park City. He switched soccer clubs, to Sparta, which was a little closer by and got to dress in his favorite color, blue! He went on two super fun trips. The first was to Dinosaur National Monument (he was still a huge dinosaur fan), which included a cool rafting trip on the Yampa River. The second was to Florida, where he did the full Disney World/Universal Studios experience. His favorite part of the amusement parks was the Harry Potter World. Since his mommy and daddy are big space fans, he also visited the Kennedy Space Flight Center and Cape Canaveral, both of which he found fascinating. Just prior to the Florida trip, Logan watched his sister complete her Bat Mitzvah. He was very observant, knowing that in a few years, he would also be undertaking the same rite of passage.
Since his elementary school only went through 5th grade, Logan graduated from elementary school when he was 11 – full cap and gown included. He was one of only a few students with a straight A average, and he made us very proud! Over the summer, he went with the family to San Francisco, where he had an awesome time experiencing the city. At the Golden Gate Bridge, he had the unusual experience of seeing a pod of whales passing through. They were everywhere, and it was really cool! His interest in sea creatures still high, it was especially cool for him. He saw all the San Francisco highlights, but other than the whales, his favorite was Ghirardelli Square. The Exploratorium was a close third though. He maintained his love of soccer, skied a little, and played a lot with his Nerf Guns. Definitely his passion at 11, he amassed quite the arsenal of weapons, and we couldn’t walk anywhere in the house without finding bullets. He also started middle school and took up the trumpet, both of which he really enjoyed!
12 was a big year of travel for Logan. In February, he went to Spain, definitely a big life experience. He got burnt out of the museums and palaces after the 3rd or 4th of each, but he had an absolute blast at both the Real Madrid Stadium Tour and the Camp Nou (FC Barcelona) Stadium Tour. He was amazingly good (and even a little interested) during our 4 hour trip to the Prado Museum, and he had his fair share of tapas. However, the real highlight of the trip for him was the Barcelona Game he got to see. He was so excited and knowledgeable about the team that the locals thought he was the cutest thing ever. He definitely represented well for the US.
After finishing up 6th grade with straight As, he went to Glacier National Park, followed by Sacramento, then Portland. In Portland, he learned how to shoot a bow, which he was naturally very good at and really enjoyed. Luckily, he just missed all the big fires passing through those areas, and had a wonderful experience getting to know some of the fun places in our country. Upon his return, he entered 7th grade, continuing to excel in the classroom, and once again taking up the trumpet.
Logan turned 13 at the end of 2018. Since then, he has matured so rapidly! He has enjoyed the winter tremendously, skiing, going to the ice castles, and playing soccer both indoors and in Vegas. He is becoming quite the trumpeter, and even joined jazz band. He has to get up a half hour earlier for this, so obviously, he must love it! His leaps off the deck this winter are very symbolic of the leap is in now taking towards growing up. He is an amazing young man with an exciting future ahead of him. He is not afraid to let go of what he knows and jump out into the world of adulthood. He is truly embracing his Bar Mitzvah theme:
“You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
He is exploring who he is and who he wants to become, and finding his way to make the world a better place. His parents couldn’t be prouder of the young man he is becoming!
