A lot of whining, then some rejoicing!

Ok, so as evidenced by my blog the last few months, we've all been feeling a bit worn down at our house the last few months.  I rarely have an evening or Saturday off, and Doug is at work all day of course, so we haven't had a lot of together time.  We're desperately trying to pay off the last of our revolving debt, so we're committing huge chunks of our income to paying for things we already have (you know, tiny, insignificant things like computers and washing machines and fridges), I am pregnant (and in case you haven't caught on, its been a rather long pregnancy this time around), we're adjusting to the new school routine,  I've been having trouble staying on top of things for Young Women, so I'm constantly playing catch up, and Doug's job is just delightfully stressful and taxing in every way (though we love it).   Then this weekend the Bishop asked us to get in gear doing our part to help out with Proposition 8 (this is a proposed amendment to the constitution of the state of California that would state only marriages between a man and woman are valid and recognized in this state--the First Presidency has asked all members in California to actively support the measure, in time, money, and campaigning).  So there are phone calls to be made and doors to be knocked on.

And the heat!  Oh the heat!  Its supposed to be over 100 again today.  How I loathe the long, hot summers of the Central Valley!  I was not built for this kind of weather, I tell you.  I have been enviously eyeing the weather reports back home, and thinking how delightful it would be to have 65 and 70 degree days with snow on the mountains!  Snow--I hardly remember what it looks like.  But there is hope.  The rest of the week, the highs are supposed to be in the mid 90s--still hot, but progress is being made.   I want so badly to have cool weather so I can drink cocoa, make stew and soup, wear sweaters and snuggle up under blankets.  I'm so ready for real fall.

But there has been a reprieve.  I was supposed to work all evening this past Saturday, but I was scheduled on the Flowrider which *groan* still isn't running, so I had all day off.  Since I wasn't going to be working, Doug took Friday off of work and drove up to Fresno and picked grapes (this weekend was the harvest at the church welfare vineyard) all day so that he didn't have to go up Saturday morning.  All day, neither one of us had to go to work.  We slept in (more or less--I didn't get out of bed until 8:15, anyway), went for a drive, did some shopping (Doug bought some oak to build a pretty coffee table to replace our currently falling-apart-due-to-flimsy-construction-and-lost-screws one) and relaxed.  In the evening, Paul and Christa came over so Doug could take them around McDermont (they hadn't seen it since last Halloween).  So he showed them around--he was excited to host Paul, since he works in construction and can appreciate the coolness of it all in a different way than most--while I played with the kids.  The loved the bounce houses, of course (tho Keith wasn't all that fond of the boxing one--what can I say?  My children are aggressive).  The arcade was more of a hit than I expected, though.  Dylan and Keith were both awesome on Whac-A-Mole, and I didn't even have to spend any money to keep them both entertained for quite a while on the Nascar cars.  After the tour, we all headed back to our house for pizza and a movie.  We're so busy that sometimes I visit friends or Doug does something with friends, but we haven't done much together and it was a lot of fun to spend some time hanging out with another couple.   It was the first Saturday in months that actually felt like a Saturday.

This coming Saturday I was supposed to work from 8:30am to 2pm, an then from 5:30p to 9:30p, but as it turns out, Doug is probably going to have to drive down to southern California for some stuff for work, so its altogether likely I'll take the day off and we'll all go together.  Perhaps we'll hit the beach along the way.  Two real Saturdays in a row are almost too much!  I'm so excited.

I think we're both very much looking forward to Februaryish of 2009.  I won't be working anymore.  McDermont will be finished.  The bulk of all the major design work on all the other projects should be done.  The baby will be old enough she will be starting function on something resembling a schedule.  Our callings should be a lot easier to stay on top of, given the easing of other demands, and all our revolving debt should more or less be paid off.  Oh, that just sounds delightful!!