Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Oregon and more!

We are back! Holy I feel like we've been gone forever and I have SO much to blog! Where to start...

Well we left last Monday and drove to Cardston and stayed over night. In the morning we left at 5am to make good time and drove about 5 hours to the border. When we got to the border things didn't go as planned. Let me give you a little history first. When Dustin and I were first married we were going to go down to the states to sell security systems. The day before we left we found out Dustin's visa never went through. We already moved out of our place, had all our stuff in storage, I took time off school and Dustin quit his job etc.The company told us to come down anyways and they would pay us under the table. Being young and dumb we did. They ended up catching us at the border and banned Dustin for 5 years from the states. That day sucked. Well it's been over 7 years now so we went down thinking we were good. Nope. They told us Dustin had to pre apply before going down now. No one ever told him this the last time, he even asked them so many times that after 5 years he would be good to go and they said yes. So this time they tried to get him a temporary waiver for the week for Steph's wedding and they felt really bad and tried everything they could to get him across, it was actually nice they cared a little. Well they went up to the head honcho guys and they all said no. It really sucked!! I was in tears, Dustin was beyond frustrated and the girls wanted to know what was going on because we were there for 3 hours! So Dustin had to fill out a bunch of paper work etc and ended up going back to Jaffray to stay with his cousin Brendan while I drove with the girls to Oregon for 8 hours. Luckily my grandparents were almost to the border that same day so my grandma ended up driving with me. My great uncle came and got Dustin from the border and took him to Jaffray. I was bawling as he left. It was the most stressful day of my life. I just wanted to cry and cry. This was supposed to be our family holidays and Dustin was so excited to go to Oregon and worked SO hard to be able to come. It sucked big time. I felt so bad for him.

So we got to Kristy's at 11pm. We were super tired. The next day we woke up and the bridal party went and got pedicures and stuff. It was so fun! I've never been to a place like that with the big massage chairs and everything so it was nice to relax after the stress and chaos of everything the day before. Then we went back to Kristy's and set up for the bridal shower that evening. Kristy put in so much work for the shower since she was the only one down there. Britt and I did what we could from afar but Kristy did so good. It was gorgeous!!

The next day we set up for the wedding! Steph and Kevin were getting married in Salem which was about an hour away from Gresham (where Kristy and Steph live) both are just outside of Oregon. Kevin's family is from Salem. The decorations were beautiful of course.

Then it was wedding day! It was kind of chaotic and we were all a little late getting there, but Stephanie looked BEAUTIFUL!! She was so happy! Her photographer never showed up though. That sucked. I guess they tried calling her and ended up calling a girl named Stephanie Peters and she said she wasn't getting married so they just assumed the wedding was off! What are the chances?! (Her name is Stephanie Petersen!) They ended up getting their money back and luckily Kevin's sister in law is also a photographer did all the photos. I'm kicking myself, I never took ANY pictures of them! It was so busy and since I was in the bridal party I was IN all of the photos and things. I wish I would have made time to take some. I did have some people take my camera around and get pictures here and there. I did take a few throughout the day but none that are anything special. Dangit. I was also focused on my girls since we had hardly any family there to help out with them. Thanks so much to the family who did help me! I don't know what I would have done without you!
After we went out and did the bridal party shoot, me and my sisters (the bridesmaids) decided to go back early and help out with the family dinner while they did the photos of just Steph and Kevin. This is when I should have stayed and took photos!! Well we got WAY lost!! It was hilarious at first, then it wasn't as much when none of us had our cell phones or a clock in the car and asked twice for directions! We were 20 minutes late for the family dinner... oops. It was all good though, they ended up starting late so we weren't too bad. 
It was a gorgeous wedding and I ended up giving a toast to the bride. I think it turned out ok... ha I was super nervous but it went really good!



















































So I came back a few days early than the original plan since Dustin had all this time off and we wanted to spend it as a family.While I was gone he had some fun though! He went quading, shooting and even bought us a new TRUCK!! Insane. I didn't think i'd love it as much as I do! It's a 2012 Dodge 1500, quad cab and it's beautiful! I'm allowed to be excited because we've never been the ones to have the nice new things and I know how bad Dustin has wanted a truck, because I hear about it EVERY SINGLE DAY since we've met! ha. I'm super excited for him to finally have a man toy. Now he won't stop talking about what he wants to get next. Tires, Rims, Quad... etc! ha. I have my list too though, don't you worry!!

So we celebrated Denim's grad while in Taber, went fishing, quading with the kids and it was nice and relaxing! I got to do Jody's kids pictures, Denim's grad photos and one of his girl friends photos as well.
It sure is nice to be home though!! And i'm tired of blogging, so here is another load of pics! I have a lot more on facebook if you can believe it or not, so if you're on there check them out, if not feel free to add me but please introduce yourself first! ha. I get a lot of random people who add me and I have no idea who they are so I don't add them! :)





















Check out this colorful grad class! It was crazy! Everything was so bright!






 This picture makes me feel tall...


Ok, i'm done. That was long.




7 comments:

Amie said...

Okay i LOVE the bridesmaids dresses. They turned out so cute. You girls are so beautiful! I LOVE the photo of you laughing at Laken with her funny smile, and you look like a very small person in that last photo. :) being small is good!

Carrie said...

That stinks so much about Dustin having to miss the wedding! You and your sisters are all gorgeous and look so alike!

Anonymous said...

Wow, that is a crazy story! Sounds super stressful! The border is stressful enough as it is! I would have been a mess too! Good for you for continuing on your journey, looked like a beautiful wedding!

Christine Peterson said...

If I got turned away at the border, I'd buy a truck too Dustin! Geez. Poor you Mindy! Really that sucks! My brother works for customs on the canadian side they take that stuff seriously. Ask Caroline, Ben almost got banned from the US for going down to sell alarms too. Scary!

ashley said...

Those bridesmaid dresses were so pretty!! Love the belts! The makeupa and hair looked so pretty (im a makeup artist so I notice these things!) haha

That really sucks that your husband couldn't come. I would have flipped out too and we don't even have kids yet! Your girls all looked awesome!! Lucky Husbands! LOL

Ashley

Rini Asmiyati said...

I LOVE EVERYTHING BOUT YOUR FAMILY, ENVY >:O

The Harker Family said...

Woah pics!!!! Awesome! Loved seeing all the events. Congrats to Stephanie on getting married. What a gorgeous bride! Your whole family is so beautiful. Ya'll look like models. Just gorgeous!!! So stunning! You would never think you had four children either because you're so smoking hot!!!! Congrats on the new truck. I bet Dustin is mega excited! That's one powerful truck!!!

);