happy weekend!

Hope everyone had a nice, relaxing weekend. I didn't! Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. We were very productive, which feels good. I got all of my stuff done on the to-do list I posted on Wednesday (well, except for #3- still working on that one. Any ideas?). Saturday I attended a "Super Saturday" at church where I got to go be crafty for a few hours and get to know some of the women I see at church every Sunday. I made a Family Home Evening assignment chart (mostly) and a cool, big tote bag from the 30+ Capri Sun pouches I've been saving over the past few weeks. I love how it turned out! (If you want to see more pictures of the making process, go have a peek at my craft blog. I'll have them there soon.)

I also took a mini class on bread making, which I'm embarrassed to say was almost completely new information for me. I don't think I've ever made bread from scratch without the help of a bread machine! The recipe our instructor provided was really tasty, so I might just have give it a try this week.

Once I got home we loaded up the kids and drove up to Fruitland to Aaron's plant. He's been wanting to paint his office so we decided this would be a good weekend to do it. He picked out and purchased his paint and supplies already, so we got right to work clearing things out and setting to work. I'd left my camera at home (the batteries were charging) so Aaron said I could borrow the lab's, but by the time I remembered it we were too far along for a good "before" photo. Ah, well. His office is very, very small, with no windows to the outside. There's a tiny one that looks out onto the outer office area, and a larger one that looks into the office next door. Weird, huh? The room itself is barely big enough for a desk and some file cabinets, but he has to fit 2 desks in there for when his boss is in town and needs a work space, or when an auditor comes to the plant. We tore apart the horrible, ginormous and ridiculously heavy particle board and laminate desk that was in there and made room for 2 smaller desks of our own. They're basically just wooden tables, so they won't take up nearly as much room as the old one. His floor is this blue/grey faux pebble laminate which has seen better days. But since there isn't anything he can do about that he chose a nice blue/grey color for the walls and crisp white for the trim. I wish he could put a rug in there but then it would just smell even more like onions.

After several hours and a few breaks we finally called it good and went home. We had the kids with us and had to confine them to the outer office while we painted, which got kind of tedious for them. Hakan got pretty cranky towards the end, but I can't blame him. It must've been boring. Aaron is actually back there now putting the desks in, as well as a ladder-style bookcase that he swiped from my craft area. The furniture will be all walnut-stain wood, and he bought 6 matching picture frames for a little gallery of family photos to go on one wall. For his Father's Day gift the kids and I staged a little photo shoot on Tuesday in our dining room. I pulled out a brown bed sheet and hung it on the wall opposite the big window. I got everyone dressed nice and pulled out the trusty camera and just snapped away. We must have taken about 100 photos. Sadly, I only ended up with a handful of usable ones, but thanks to Photoshop and Wal-Mart.com I got them tweaked, printed and framed. They turned out kinda nice, too.

These are the 4 photos I ended up using. To make a photo mosaic like this, go here.

We gave them to Aaron this morning before church, and I think he was relieved that now he only has to figure out what to put in 2 frames! I'll have to get him to take a picture of his office when it's all put together.

hugs for Daddy

Even though we didn't get to do much relaxing this weekend, it was nice to get so much accomplished. Now, if only my weekdays could be the same way ...