Corless Central

The Corless family is back! (HUGE post warning!)

2012-11-28T22:42:00.003-06:00

Wow, people! It has been a YEAR since I've been on this horse. My inspiration to get back on was looking through all the way to my very first post.
I was so cool. We have had so many fun adventures! Why am I not cool anymore?
I am going to get back on and share more of the fun daily going ons of our family. :) Its about freaking time...
I will start with some of the family pictures we had taken last fall.

I was also barely pregnant with our baby #5. And here is some evidence.

26 weeks

30 weeks

36 weeks

39 weeks -actually the day before she was born!

But before we get to that, here is what happened in the mean time!

Hanging out at soccer.

Davey(middle) was Iron Man and Peter(right) was Thor.
Little one on left is Captain America, a new friend.

Davey turned 6! Cake has a Power Ranger.

Adam went to 5th grade camp! First overnight away from home!

Peter's first Space Derby!

A picture of the bean at 6 weeks!

Dad teaching FHE at Christmas time.

Nativity Christmas Eve, LOVED it!

Christmas Eve 2011

On the plane to Michigan for Uncle Michael's wedding!

My new boots!

Popcorn Factory Valentine surprise!

David had knee surgery.

Peter turned 9

Cake has his favorite Nerf gun.

Mary turned 3!

and had a Belle cake!

Sweet princess girl!

Pinewood Derby

Peter's new toy.

Potty training Mary. "One Day and Done" success!

Adam hanging out between soccer practices.

Caught a lizard in the yard.

Easter egg coloring in the back yard.

Easter basket loot!

Lightsaber sucker-pops

At Great Wolf Lodge ready to go play in the water!

Great Wolf Lodge fun.

Kansas City Temple open house!

Kids in front of the temple.

The crab I made out of cardboard for Davey's research project.

Caesar came to visit!

Peter is Davey crockett for a school project!

Sea World in San Antonio!! -wave pool

Watching Shamu in the Spash Zone baby! Yeah, we got soaked!!

The Alamo in San Antonio. Awesome history.

A day at the lake with Peter's soccer team.

Lunch with the Montano's!
Hanging out with Dad.

Davey lost some teeth!

And that is what we have been up to until August 6, 2012.
And then another princess came...

TEXAS!!!

2011-12-01T21:59:00.000-06:00

These were all taken during the first week after we moved in! Late, I know, but here they are. I need to post updated photos with no boxes and things actually organized. until then, you get the idea of where we live. I love it!

Happy 10th Birthday Adam!!

2011-07-17T18:39:00.006-05:00

My first baby is all grown up and savin' China. Sometimes it seems that way. But right before we moved, as in the day before the truck parked in the back yard, we had a party. :) And I'm so glad we did. It meant a lot to Adam, although after the choas was over, we realized that there were many of his friends who did not get invited and for that I am truly sorry. It was a whirlwind of events and we basically flew by the seat of our pants. Nevertheless, it was a good 10th birthday for Adam!

We started with cake and ice cream.

And the cake.

Then he opened presents.

And we played the candy bar game.

Then we moved the party outside. Time to get wet!
It started with a water balloon toss, ended with a winner and a war, of course!

After a while things settled down and we ate lunch outside and just played in the water.

Later that night, we gave Adam a few more presents.

Altogether it was a glorious birthday and he is one happy boy!
We love you Adam!

A few things we've been up to...

2011-06-20T11:29:00.001-05:00

This is a random, very brief collection of things we've done the last few months, but I feel like I owe you some pictures!

Papa and Mary...

David and Grandma Sparks...

Nona!

Mary in her bath...

Peter's last day of soccer...

Lucy came to visit and brought her mom and dad...

Watching Peter Pan...

cuteness...

playing in the mud...

Nauvoo with Corless cousins...

Easter...

Kristen's birthday...

Mother's Day...

Playing with Mary Amelia...

Daddy picture...

Brian's birthday...

Easter again...

Mary's favorite Matt...

Game night...

Gnocchi night...

and most recently, today, Father's Day!!!

So in the news...
We're official now!!
So many things have fallen into place just right in the last few weeks, it really is a miracle!!
David graduated and was able to finish and sign out just a week later, a miracle.
We were able to go to Texas on a house-hunting trip, thanks to Kristen and Matt who watched the boys while we traveled with Mary. And thanks to David's cousin Matt and his wife Lisa who hosted us during the few days we were in and out looking at houses and searching the area. Thanks to Lisa, we found the one. We knew as soon as we walked in.
We get to move in on July 1st.
We get our first house guests July 2nd. :) I am so happy that Christi and Clifton get to come be with us and even go to church with us on our first Sunday.
I promise to be better at pictures when we get situated... :)
Please pray for us, we may be a little out of touch for the next few weeks. Maybe if I need a break from packing, I'll post more of the pictures I just downloaded. :)
See y'all in Texas!

There are things I will not miss...

2011-05-19T12:50:00.000-05:00

Christi inspired me. I've actually been making a mental list of things I look forward to about moving. Here are the things I will NOT miss...

-the squeaky floors, LOVE the wood, not the noise.

-no water pressure in the bathroom sink. That is the one place you need water to wash things off quickly. Everywhere else the water comes out nice and fast.

-sharing a bathroom with the kids. There's just something better about that one.

-no driveway or garage. We've parked on the side of the house for almost 4 years.

-no fence in the back yard. Every time my youngest little person wants to play outside, I have to be out there, too. Even when Adam and Peter go outside, they have to stay where I can see them from the window.

-no where to ride bikes or go walking, safely...

-non energy efficient doors and windows. Cold air comes in and escapes around every door and window.

-having the baby room right next to the squeaky, echoing, wood floor dining room.

-having the washer and dryer not next to each other.

-gutters we have to clean out every year or we get water in the basement.

-sharing a teeny tiny closet with my husband. I love sharing with him, I just wish it was a LOT bigger!

-the neighbors leaves all blowing into our yard every fall. We fill 16-20 leaf bags every fall and then a few more in spring.

-having the only main floor phone jack in the dining room. Love those 5 am calls I have to get out of bed for.

-the dead grapevines on our dining room ceiling. Its fun to talk about, but David and I both think its hideous.

-no windows that open in the living room.

-the street sounds of living on the main street 24/7. (ie., sirens, people yelling, honking, etc.)

-not having a pantry in the kitchen.

Needless to say there are a lot of things we put up with because we knew we weren't going to be here very long.

BUT we WILL miss...

-our friends and all our adventures with them!!!!

-being able to walk 3 houses down and cross the street to Dairy Queen.

-wide basement steps

-a huge laundry/storage room

a big kitchen with no island

-beautiful wood floors

-our sunroom

-watching the parades from our own front yard.

-walking down a few blocks to the Robert Wadlow statue.

-driving through green hugs (when the trees are so close together and big and tall that the branches cross over the street and mix with the branches on the other side of the road.)

-taking walks with the kids to the Redbox.

-my husband being able to come home for 2 hours every day for lunch, when he doesn't have lab work to do.

-our babysitters!!!

-only being 8 hours from Michigan.

Here's to more adventure!!!

Happy Birthday Cinderella Girl!

2011-03-31T12:08:00.006-05:00

Mary chose Cinderella plates at the store and I took it from there. She has a little Cinderella dress and so I made her a Cinderella cake. The cutest thing was that she would get so excited when we asked her who was on her cake, and she would shout "Cinderella!"

We celebrated Mary's 2nd birthday on a Friday night with friends.

Pre-cake: The kids and their friends went and ran around downstairs form a while, and the parents got to hang out, eat yummy food and talk.

Now for cake and ice cream. She was so good and so cute!!

She put this one on herself, precious.

One thing that I also loved is that each of her brothers got her a gift and bought it with their own money. Most were just a dollar, like this pretty pink hat. She loved them!

Happy Birthday sweet little tiny girl.

Peter's Birthday and Baptism

2011-03-13T20:06:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday, Peter!! We had so much fun that weekend!
Friday night, David's parents came.
Saturday morning, we had a birthday party with a few close friends.

And the Iron Man cake.

Sunday after church was Peter's baptism. It was such a special day for all of us and everything went really well.

Here is the newly baptized and confirmed Peter Corless!

My mother-in-law and I.

The spread...

Congratulations Peter. We love you so much!

Birthday pictures!

2011-01-17T11:18:00.003-06:00

I turned 33 last week!
David took me out to Red Lobster, our favorite!

Here are the boys, eating some cake for breakfast, with eggs and hot chocolate!

And here is the cake! It is Christi's Eggless Chocolate cake, SOOO GOOD! I'll be repeating this one every year, guaranteed!

I'm In!

2011-01-12T16:52:00.002-06:00

I want to wear my skinny clothes. I'm tired of looking around for something that hides the bulge, not a really BIG bulge, but its still there. I can wear my pants, but I don't "fit" them. So!!! Thankyou to my sisters, I'm going to get to work. I want to feel outstanding again. I'm feeling motivated, like I've had my lazy fun and I'm ready to be in control.

The plan is:
Exercise every day except Sunday, of course.
Eat my meals with only fruit and vegetables in between.
Nothing after dinner but water.
No desserts, except Friday night.

OK!!!

Goodbye softee!!! Hello HOTNESS!!

to feel outstanding again

2010-11-01T16:00:00.003-05:00

I'm in good shape, I am at a comfortable place. But I want to be in HOT shape. Sooo I think about doing no sugar again, and....maybe I'm going to start working out,too...(sigh) Just thinking about it makes me tired though. I do this yo-yo thing in my mind. So much effort when I'm already mostly happy with where I'm at. But there are those days when I remember feeling outstanding, when you don't need anyone to tell you that you look good. I'm almost ready to feel that way. But am I ready to do what it takes?? Soccer is over, so I have a little more time nowadays. All I need is a plan. A start, deadline, proper motivation, etc. What gets you going???

Soooo not good at blogging these days!

2010-10-18T11:31:00.003-05:00

Sorry people. We've just been busy! Soccer is over next week and I am so happy about that! I have been baking brownies like a mad woman! Testing different combinations of frosting, sheet cake frosting...yeah, they're really good. So the box mix I like the best is Betty Crocker. I haven't gotten the frosting part down yet, but my friends are enjoying my challenge, since I give most of them away. :) I do know where the best powdered sugar is now, and I plan on toying with dark chocolate cocoa.
I did find a vacuum, its a little Eureka dust buster on wheels with a long handle. It is doing the job quite well. My only complaint is that the cord is about 3 feet too short, so I have an extension on it.
Also, I can't find my cord to download my pictures! Driving me a little crazy.
We still haven't decided where we're moving, but its getting closer. 9 more months and we'll be gone!

Looking for a vacuum!

2010-10-13T09:18:00.003-05:00

My sweet little vacuum died! I got it 7 years ago and now they don't make them any more. It was a little GE model with a retractable handle, a little dust buster came off of the front, and it had a brush roller on the bottom. So I'm looking for a replacement that is small, zippy, can get chunks from under the table and do corners well. I am completely open to suggestions. Please let me know if you have one that works really well!

a few more Utah vacation pictures

2010-10-08T08:10:00.001-05:00

Adam and Eve :)

Mary and Esther Truth

We put the kids to bed and had a fun dinner!

Utah -Bean Museum, Treehouse Museum, dinner with Mom & Dad

2010-08-24T20:01:00.002-05:00

Bean Museum: Kimmy & I and the kids.

Treehouse Museum -We went with Kiri, Adalyn and Jacob

Hanging out at Kimmy's house!
This is how the kids slept almost every night!

The boys before church.

Dinner with the family! We missed Allen, Christi, Scott and their lovely families that night!

More to come! Enjoy these until I get a few more minutes! I have so many pictures to post!

Denver

2010-08-15T19:32:00.008-05:00

We started our vacation by driving 13 hours to Denver, Colorado. This is everything we packed in the car. After I took the pictures, I remembered to put the pillows in the back. Not bad for 2 1/2 weeks!

We stayed with David's sister Rachel and her family for a few days. She and Ryan were wonderful hosts! We stayed up late, ate good food, played games and had so much fun playing with the cousins, Mia and Lydia. David's parents and Grandma Sparks were also visiting for Grandma's 85th birthday celebration. It was a lovely reunion!!
Here we had a mini birthday celebrate for David. :)

David with Grandma Sparks

Baseball

2010-08-15T19:26:00.002-05:00

Nauvoo pictures

2010-08-11T10:40:00.008-05:00

Wagon ride

Nauvoo Pageant

In the Relief Society garden. There are some really beautiful statues.

The Mississippi River at the end of the Trail of Hope.

One of the homes

In the Seventies Hall

In the Garden

In the Garden

Oxen :) and children

My favorite kind of sheep!

I'm so glad we've been able to go several times, its a little over three hours away. It was a wonderful trip. We had so much fun with our friends!

she likes me!

2010-08-09T22:42:00.002-05:00

We both had pigtails, so I wanted to get a picture and she wrapped her little arms around me, so sweet.
I did just download a million pictures from our recent adventures, finally, so hopefully I'll be able to get them on soon!
Isn't she the cutest???

matching hair

2010-07-02T14:04:00.004-05:00

We woke up one morning and had our hair sticking out on the same side. :)

zipped into my wedding dress

2010-06-30T19:44:00.005-05:00

The other day I saw my dress hanging there and thought I'd try it. It worked. I had a hard time getting the zipper up myself, but after struggling a bit, I got it!
Here's me trying to take a picture of myself in the mirror...then I set the timer.
Not bad for 10 1/2 years later!

Mary Amelia's first photo shoot

2010-06-28T09:45:00.001-05:00

This first picture is our favorite. I also love the one with her big smile with her eyes closed.

Happy 9th Birthday Adam!!

2010-06-27T22:45:00.001-05:00

It was a happy day last Wednesday! We had his friend party in the morning and his family party that evening.

In the evening, David set up a treasure hunt for Adam to find his presents, but he made it so that each clue led to another present. Adam loved it. That may be a new tradition...

Best present = biggest smile! You'd smile, too if you got the COBRA RATTLER!

And instead of making 1 big cake, I made 2 eight inch rounds and decorated them for both parties. This year Adam wanted a Decepticon symbol and Megatron's face. So there you have it!

The only way I got these cakes decorated was to have Mary sit on the counter and entertain herself with my decorating stuff. Isn't she cute!

This boy was happy.
Happy 9th birthday my sweet, sweet son.

worth every penny!

2010-06-21T21:11:00.004-05:00

Happy Father's Day!!!!

counting my blessings

2010-05-09T21:12:00.005-05:00

I love being a mother. It thrills me. Mothering occupies my thoughts, my time, my energy, and my prayers. Mothering challenges my intellect, my capacity to adapt, my motivation, and rearranges my priorities for me. There isn't anything I would trade for any of my moments spent protecting, nurturing, and loving my children. And there isn't anything I wouldn't do to keep them safe and to help them feel loved. Thankyou Heavenly Father for these four wonderful blessings!

so far...

Family getaway!

2010-04-26T09:21:00.005-05:00

Last weekend we drove 4 hrs to Kansas City, Kansas to stay at the Great Wolf Lodge. It was so much fun! The pictures are a little fuzzy, I think there was a lot of water in the air.

We'll definitely be coming back!