Kauai in a nutshell. Picture mania!

So Matt bought me this awesome camera for Mother's Day.  It takes under water pics, even though when you look at it you would never guess that it could do that.  I used it a ton and here are all the pics from our trip to Kauai.  We had an amazing time.  We are sad and happy to be home.  I do miss it already though.

Check these out:

So my parents stayed at the Hyatt and they had a sweet pool.  It was pretty much a river whirlpool.  They had a HUGE slide as well that we fell in love with.  My Dad, Matt and I were constantly finding new techniques that would make us to go faster.

Isn't she gorgeous?

This little slide right here would transition you into the other parts of the pool.  It was a major hit with Madeline.

He is so handsome.

So, I am obsessed with how ugly snorkeling gear makes you look, so I had to show all of you how dang HOT we look with it on :)

This is Kee beach.  It was so fun to snorkel here.  They had amazing hikes as well along the Napali Coast line.

My Dad was very excited to have his pic taken with the hot Hawaiian ladies.



This was at Poipu Beach.  It was a perfect beach for kids and it had some good snorkeling as well.

I thought this pic looked cool.  Don't you love my long, alien, french fry toes squeezing Matt's head?

So, I have to say that this was the high light of the trip.  We went kayaking through the rainforest and then we hiked through it to see some amazing waterfalls.  Then we swam in the waterfall, which kind of hurt by the way, and then headed back.  We LOVED it.

I had to throw this pic in there, since it looks like Matt's calf is my leg and it looks like I have one HUGE calf and one small one .  I thought all of you would enjoy it as well.

It is amazing how their trees grow.

This is the waterfall.  I swear it is bigger in person.  

This is my favorite pic.  I loved taking pictures under neath the waterfall.  Matt proposed to me under a waterfall, so this was pretty cool.

These are the Secret Falls.  Shhhhh, don't tell anyone.

So, there was this band playing every night and Madeline went nuts over them.  She was totally flirting with one of the band members as well.  He let her play one of the instruments and she was in heaven and dancing like a nut of course.

My parents.  So adorable.

We also went on a helicopter ride, which was amazing.  He showed us all the waterfalls and parts of the island that were in the movie Jarrastic Park.  I could not think of a better island for that movie.  Below are some pics from the helicopter.  Madeline went with us, which I thought was crazy, but she was really good.

The entire fam in Hawaii. 

The End.  I hope you all enjoyed.

A walk down memory lane.

So a friend from high school, Ashley, did these posts every Friday on her blog, called Formal Friday.  She posted pics of herself at our high school dances in Mission Viejo, CA.  I loved it.  I forgot all the styles back then that were so cool at the time.  Even though the pics were not of me, it took me back in time and it was nice to reflect.  I thought, just for fun, I would take all of you down my memory lane in my life.  I went home some time in April, I think, and I snatched all of my pics that were sitting in one of my drawers.  I decided I would share all of them with you.  I also wanted to challenge all of you, only if you are up to it, to do the same.  I absolutely LOVE looking at baby pics and childhood pics of different people, especially my friends.  So, my plan is to do this every Friday, but we will see if I keep up with it.  We are going on a trip, so that Friday I will definitely not be posting, but other than that, I will hopefully keep up.  Enjoy!

So, below is when I was obviously a baby.  I love this pic, because I think that we look fake like stuffed animals.  The other adorable child is my older, handsome brother.  His name is Nicholas, which we will be naming our boy if we have one.  I miss him very much.  I don't think anyone could ask for a better brother than him.

This is my 6th birthday when we lived in Huntington Beach.  You can see my brother with our dog Ling.  He was a sweet dog.  The girls are just some birthday buddies of mine.

Below is a pic of my two wonderful cousins, who I love so much.  We are holding our dog Sugar, which truly was the BEST dog in the world.  I also miss him very much.  We got him when I was 8 and he passed away when I was about 23.  

Can you believe what a ghetto child I was?  Look at my bangs!  Thanks a lot Dad.  My Dad used to cut my bangs and he obviously did not miss his calling in life by not choosing hair styling as a career.  This was in first grade at a field trip.  

Next is a pic of when we lived in our home in Mission Viejo.  We had the HUGEST backyard ever.  I was a little gymnast, which I am sure all of you can gather from my unusual pose.  

That is all for now and I will post more soon.

This is what I did today.

So I was a little bored today and wanted to something to do.  I went to Nordstrom's Rack just to keep myself busy.  Who knew there was a waterfall in front that would provide so much entertainment.  This is not a waterfall that is meant to be played in, therefore, every passing stranger was staring and cracking up as they watched Ms. Madeline drenching herself in the water.  She was absolutely soaked!  She actually was screaming when we left because she wanted to play more.  I loved it.  This girl has WAY too much personality.

Mother's Day postponed. It's Birthday time for Mr. Deter!

So my man is now 30 years old!  I was seriously frustrated because I did not know what to do for his birthday.  It's 3 decades, I knew I had to do something big, but WHAT?  Matt is not a hard guy to shop for.  His loves are very obvious to EVERYONE.  Sports and food are about all you need to say to describe my hubby.  However, I really wanted to do something unique, something special. Thank goodness for this site, I don't know what I would have done without it.  I wish I had fallen upon it a lot earlier, it would have helped me with a lot of gifts in the past.  Well, I found THE PERFECT GIFT for my crazy drivin hubby, and it was in Las Vegas.  I signed him up to do the Richard Petty driving experience.  We actually got to go inside the Las Vegas speedway, be in Richard Petty's pit and Matt got to actually drive a real stock car that Richard Petty drives (not the exact one, just a type of stock car that he drives).  It was such a surreal experience.  I can't 100% describe the feeling.  I didn't even participate, but I was like a little kid on Halloween.  I was so excited for Matt.  Matt was so nervous, it was awesome.  Matt NEVER gets nervous, so when he did, I knew I did a good job on this gift.  He took a class, they got him all geared up, just like they do to all the race car drivers, and he drove a stock car by himself going 135 miles an hour.  He did so good!!!  He always surpasses my expectations.  It was eight laps, so it went by fast, but he loved it.  Britney and Matt Mendel babysat Madeline overnight for us, so we got to leave Friday afternoon and we did not get back till Saturday night.  It was my first night without my little munchkin.  It was a little hard at first, but I have to say it was a trip well needed.  It took me back to what it was like when Matt and I were dating.  We did not have a curfew to put the munchkin down by or anything.  It was funny though, we were both dead tired by like 10:30pm, especially me.  We are not used to the night life anymore.  I have not had that much fun in such a long time. THANK YOU so much Britney and Matt.  I don't know what we would do without you guys.  We are so blessed with such amazing friends!!!

Now, enjoy the pics:

Birthday Boy; SO HOT!

Ahhhh, some alone time.  So cheezy.

So, below is when he pretty much just found out about his gift.

Still not that nervous.

Oh yeah, getting really nervous now.  Look at the intensity!

About to take off, luckily the car was dry afterwards, he was able to refrain from wetting himself.  HE DID SO GOOD!

I LOOOOOOVVVVVEEEEEEEE EASTER!!!

I absolutely love Easter.  I also unfortunately love Cadbury eggs.  I would like to meet the sheer genius who invented these yummy, calorie filled treats, which are making my workouts absolutely miserable and I may need a program to ween me off of them.  

All that aside Easter was wonderful.  Our neighbors invited us to do a Easter Egg hunt last Saturday, but was canceled due to the UGLY, ANNOYING weather.  We changed it to this previous Saturday, and although it was a little cold, it worked out perfect.  

Since Madeline is only one I thought she would not be that into the whole Easter Egg hunt part, but I was pleasantly surprised.  She was actually excited to grab the eggs and put them in her basket.  Our friends Brittany and Matt were nice enough to donate their Elmo basket to us.  If anyone knows Madeline, they know how much she loves Elmo.  Ever since the hunt she has been playing with her plastic eggs and her basket all day long.  She even had to have her eggs in her bath with her today.  

After the hunt we went to Brittany and Matt's to dye eggs.  It is definitely not a talent I have, but I do enjoy it.  Easter is so beautiful and meaningful.  It is Spring time.  Time to Spring forward and start anew.  And of course the most important time to remember what our Savior did for us.  I thought it was so cute.  My neighbor came over and told me that she knew Saturday would be ugly and then Easter Sunday would be beautiful.  She said that it is always like that, that the day our Lord resurrected was and is always beautiful and it is definitely not just chance that has led it to be that way.  We are of different faiths, however that does not matter at all.  I love how individuals of different faiths can come together and acknowledge the Sacrifice and Atonement, which our Lord did for each and everyone of us.

On Friday, the day before the hunt, I got to host Activity Days for the young girls in our church. I love this calling and these girls.  They are a stronger example to me than I probably am to them.  Anyways, we spoke about Easter, why we celebrate it and the significance of what Jesus did for us on the cross and through his resurrection.  We had a nice talk.  I remember reading a scripture, sorry I don't have the reference on hand, but it mentioned how every hair on our head is accounted for by our Heavenly Father.  I loved it!  He loves us so much, that every piece of us, hair and all, is accounted for.  Maybe that is why I am having such a hard time trying to convince myself to cut a little bit off of Madeline's mohawk, mullet.   

Anyways, Easter Sunday was great as well.  We went to church, I made some ham with pineapple, and then we went and had some dessert with our friends Sami and John. Yummiest carrot cake ever.  It was so nice to have some friends to spend the day with.  We get lonely without our families at times here in Utah, so it made our day more complete.

What a wonderful Day!!!

Just some babble and some pics.

I first wanted to say thank you to all of you who participated in the pee pee poll.  I was honestly surprised to find that many people who pee in the shower.  28 to 12 is pretty dang impressive.

So, I always use the cop-out that I am just not the creative type. I look at a lot of my girl friends and I admire their creations so much. I have friends who are amazing photographers, I have some who create the most beautiful clothing and other types of arts. I could write a list of all the things many of my friends can do, but it would be a little too long for this post. I love people who embrace their talents and run with them. I think for me at times the fear of failure stops me from using my creative abilities. Although I am not the artsy type I do have creative abilities which I really need to expand on, otherwise they are such a waist. Click here to listen to this short exert about creativity. I've posted the whole talk in the past, but this short little part of the speech does the trick. It really inspired me today and I wanted to share it with all of you.

So, Madeline got her pics taken with the Easter bunny. I also have some pics of her playing in the water. This little girl amazes me every day. She is our own personal ray of sunshine. WE ARE SO BLESSED!  Oh and please don't throw up when you look at my white pasty legs.  Blame it on UT who likes to tease us with the sun and then rip it away!