It's Not Summer Until the First S'More

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Oh summer, the magical, mystical time of year. The sun is out and the shorts are on and anything feel possible. I love it, don't you? For me, summer is official after  I've roasted a marshmallow over a real fire and then eaten it's crunchy, fluffy goodness and repeated the process five or six or twenty times (I really like marshmallows). Two weeks into the summer vacation, I finally got to have my s'more. Now I'm ready to blast off into a whirlwind of summery stuff. 

This year, I've decided to approach things a little different than my usual relaxing vacations. I want to use this summer to grow as a person, and so I've complied a list of goals for things I want to do before August 13, my first day of school stuff. My list is as follows:

1. Learn to love to eat healthy. No more relying on chips and McDonalds to survive the day. I know s'mores are counter productive to this, but sometimes you have to enjoy a treat too. The key is balance.  Which leads to my next goal. 

2. Learn to cook more than just chicken and potatoes. Seriously, I can't survive  on chicken and potatoes forever.

3. Learn to run. I've wanted to do this forever, and I figure if not now, when? This will probably be my toughest goal, but it's the one I'm most excited about too. 

Most of these goals are in the general direction of getting fit and hopefully staying that way once school starts. I love myself, and I know my husband loves me, but I want to feel good every day no matter what. I want people to look at me and think: She works for what she has. I also, someday, want to be able to feel good doing cosplay because I think that would be badass. Despite all of this, my last goals are totally unrelated and mostly for fun. I'm very excited about them:

4. Learn to take photographs. I'm not saying  going to be a great photographer, but I have a pretty nice camera and I want to learn to use it and use it well.  

5. Learn to quilt, and finish at least one quilt. Hopefully the ugly duckling quilt, which is well on its way to completion. 

So, that's what the ducks and I will be up to this summer. Care to join us? Happy summering everyone!

Ice Bucket Challenge

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has been extended to Maurice's Ducks on Instagram. They of course, accepted and challenged other ducks on Instagram as well.

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the ALS Foundation and how they choose to spend the money raised. I don't really understand it, and the rubber ducks are divided on the issue. For that reason, they have decided to donate to the local ALS charity right here in Utah.

Now the ducks are extending the challenge to YOU. Ice yourself, donate to your charity of choice. Don't ice yourself, donate to some kind of ALS charity. Even if you donate your time to help people with ALS! Good luck!

A Distraction

The duckies are all debating over what happened to their friend. Tomorrow will be the memorial service for dear Betty, and hopefully the reveal of what happened. Sherlock and Dr. Patterson have been conferring and seem to have come to a conclusion and finished the investigation.

In the mean time, the ducks went out to visit Pet Smart today. They found one of their friends has found a home amongst slightly furrier companions.



Doesn't he look regal?

Something Different: Last Day!!!

Hooray! Its the last day of my challenge. I have had so much fun with this challenge. Before I post my whole collection, I want to say thank you to Kristina for setting this all up for me! I loved it.



Here we go, all 35 ducks. Check for a blog post coming soon about why I started collecting and what my plans are for this collection.



Also, you may have noticed the tiny duck in the middle. He is brand new, courtesy of my grandma's garden! He's now the smallest duck I have. I didn't have him when I posted it, so I thought I'd let you know.

Something Different: Day Six

Today's challenge is my biggest duck. Most of my ducks are one of two sizes so I wasn't sure I had a "largest", but after a close race between a mad scientist and a detective, I've decided that Sherlock is my largest duck.




Sherlock is pretty new to the flock. My husband and I picked him up at this awesome store called Cabin Fever at Trolley Square. If you've never been there, GO!!! Its so fun. There's a little something for everyone. Well. Every adult.

Something Different: Day Five

Today's challenge is smallest duck!



Jordan and I won this little guy at a random fair in South Jordan one summer. The rides and everything were ridiculously expensive, but we played one of those duck pond games. I had never seen a duck like this before, but now I see them everywhere!

Something Different: Day Four

Today's challenge is my most colorful duck. This was difficult because most of my ducks are one color with another color accessory. But I finally decided on this little fairy princess duck.



I honestly don't remember anything about this duck other than I bought it when I having a really bad day and she was so cute she cheered me up immediately! I love fairies (well Tinkerbell) so she was a great find.




I also have this duck that I made. I got a bunch of blank rubber ducks in the reddit gift exchange, and they came the first day we stayed in our new apartment. So this is the key to my apartment traced all over the duck.

Something Different: Day Three!

I'm dong excellent at keeping up with my challenge!



Today is day three, most wanted duck. I took it in two parts: The duck I want most but don't have, and the duck I wanted most and got.




First up, the duck I most want to add to my collection. This litter quilting duck is AMAZING! I haven't quilted yet, but I love to sew and craft almost as much as I love rubber ducks. Definitely looking to purchase her.
I found her on this website: http://itsarubberduckieworld.com/get-your-quilting-rubber-duckie/




Next is the duck I couldn't live without! This pumpkin duck is so cute! Halloween us my favorite holiday, and I love when October rolls around and the decorations pop up everywhere. I saw this little guy and HAD to have him. It took a little convincing, but eventually Jordan let me get him.

Something Different: Day Two

You may recall that the ducks are taking a week long vacation while I do this challenge:



Today is my first duck. Everyone, meet Jack!



Jack is the duck that started it all. I don't know why, but I saw him and l HAD to have him. It was so insanely important to me. I was at Smith's with my mom and I REALLY wanted this duck, so she bought it for me. It seriously made me SO HAPPY. I displayed it on my dresser at home, which my grandma thought was weird. Then I took it to college and displayed it there. Somehow it went from one duck, to three, to ten, to however many I have now.

Something Different

This week instead of my regular posts, I will be doing a photo challenge. Here are the daily challenges:



For today's challenge, my favorite duck, I'm bringing back my friend Abby!



I love Abby because she was given to me by the sweetest third grader ever. A reminder that children are good, and that there are parents out there who teach their children to be good and do good. I also love Abby because she is adorable and I've never seen another one like her!

Summer Colds

Little Scott has caught one of those awful colds. He hasn't been adventuring because he's snuggled up at home, napping. Forgive him, he'll be back soon! Or he will be sending one of his friends to adventure.

Scouting the Grocery Wildlife

Safari Scott is scouting out the local hunting grounds. So far, nothing edible has been found.

The Rest!

After the fireworks there was a fair with lots of vendors and some big blow up rides and tons of delicious food. There was also a concert on the lawn. I didn't get a picture of those, but trust me it was awesome. Uncle Sam enjoyed sitting around with the free flags they handed out.



The fireworks started at 10 PM, with a sound track of some patriotic songs. I seriously love this part. Fireworks without music are just not as magical anymore. Uncle Sam loved the songs. Here are some of Uncle Sam's very favorite fireworks.










That's all folks! We hope you survived your Monday and that it ended well. Cheers to a good week!

Festivities

Uncle Sam has already had a long day! First thing this morning he attended the Canyon Rim Ward breakfast, which featured delicious pancakes and bacon. Then he headed out to Fantasy Con.



Fantasy Con is a lot like Comic Con but less popular... For now! As a VIP Uncle Sam got this awesome dragon. He was too scared to come out of my bag though. Too many people, not enough ducks. After leaving Fantasy Con, Uncle Sam was starving.




Nothing says America like Panda Express! (That was a joke). Now Uncle Sam is resting up for the REAL festivities.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!

To celebrate Uncle Sam is traveling in style in this little clutch I made.



What's more American than burlap? We don't know. See you folks tonight!

Headed for Sandy City!

This is Uncle Sam's first Fourth of July with me and I wanted to take him to my FAVORITE firework show. Logan's fireworks are nice but they are at the football stadium so I don't usually get close. There is a pretty good show in Hyrum but they shut down their fair so early so then you are just sitting in Hyrum waiting and waiting and there's really not a "good" spot. So we problem solved and headed out to my hometown of Sandy. Here, they have a bunch of fun stuff. Uncle Sam will tell you all about it tomorrow!!!

Uncle Sam Has Aggie Pride

My favorite thing about Logan are these bulls are over town. While Uncle Sam and I were exploring downtown he insisted we stop and take this picture.

Baking for America

Uncle Sam made some "Summer Velvets" cake for the fourth of July. This box from Duncan Hines comes with a red cake mix and a blue cake mix. Add some white frosting and BOOM! America!!!! Uncle Sam was quite pleased with the results! He mixed the mixes together in the same pan to get a swirled look. Then he mixed up some buttercream frosting for added deliciousness. These cupcakes were gone in a day!




Uncle Sam definitely recommends you pick some mix up ASAP. Happy baking!

This Outfit is Uncle Sam Approved

Uncle Sam loves all things red whitq
and blue, so I'm going to dress up for him all week! Maybe all month! Uncle Sam and I love dressing up for our long days at work and adventures around town. Today we went to JoAnn Frabic and Lee's Marketplace

Good Morning

GUYS IT'S ALMOST THE FOURTH OF JULY!
Uncle Sam is so excited to celebrate with you! And what's more American than getting up early for some good old fashioned hard work? Probably nothing. Happy Monday!!