Schiess Family Reunion

Summertime is the perfect time for a family reunion.  I have to be honest, Sean and I both have never been to an official family reunion.  (I actually have been to a few when I was a small child...but I didn't know anyone there hardly. -Sean)  Sean's family is pretty small, and I have always thought that my family was small.  I think the problem was that we have never had everyone at the same place all at the same time.

We were both excited to head up to Idaho for a weekend to get together with my Dad's family.  It was great because now that my Momma is living in Caldwell, we got to see her and my Grandma Pladsen, too!!  We stayed with mom, and headed to Boise everyday to take part in the Family Reunion Festivities.

Day 1:

We trekked across utah and Idaho, well we drove.  It was about a 5  hour drive and we arrived safe, sound, and very tired in Caldwell at my mom's.  We got to check our her place, and it was nice to feel at home.  We caught up with her and eventually hit the sack, to catch some Zzz's.

Day 2:

Friday found us up bright and early to head to the Cemetery where my Grandpa Schiess was buried.  The cemetery was absolutely huge, and we were following Sarah and Darron.  I swear I have never seen a cemetery that big, and it wasn't until we turned down this random dirt road,  that we realized it was even bigger and my Grandpa's gravesite wasn't even in the first part of the cemetery we had been in.  We finally arrived and there was tons of, "long time no see's," "have you ever met's," and "congrats on getting married's."  I met my two cousins, Axel and Penelope for the first time and I saw a lot of my aunts and uncles for the first time in...I don't even know how many years.  It was fun to see everyone, but not even everyone was there!

Sean had forgotten a shirt and pants for church so we headed to the mall with my Dad, Sarah and Darron.  The following conversation preceded this event:

Cory: Dad are you going to ride with us to the mall?

Dad: Yeah, sure.

Cory: Oh, well you can't.  We don't have any room.

Dad: (silence)

Cory:  I mean it was more of a generic question, like just wondering if you were coming.  Our car is really full with stuff, you can still though.  I think Sarah and Darron have room.

Sean: (laughing) Really, Cory? (laughing)

Okay, so it didn't come out quite right.

The mall was fun, Sean got some super cute little dress pants.  Then we grabbed lunch.  It was fun to sit and talk and catch up with my dad and Sarah and Darron.  Dad ate Taco Time, still not really sure why.  I have never eaten at Taco Time.

That night was the Talent Show, family pictures and dinner at the Church building my Grandma goes to.  We all took a big group family shot, and some individual family shots too.

Our little family!

We played some basketball, set up chairs and tables, and practiced a surprise number for my Grandma.  All the brothers and Sisters of my Dad, me, Sean, Sarah, and our cousin Shane, all sang "Be Still my Soul."  It was this really nice arrangement, and since it's her favorite song we knew she was gunna love it!!  Needless to say, she did.  And even though many tears were shed during practice, we really pulled it off during the performance.  I have never been a big singer, and I can't read music at all, but it was super fun to participate and I know Grandma LOVED it!

The rest of the performances varied in style and type.  Davis and Noah performed stand up comedy routines they had memorized from youtube, they were so hilarious, and both had great stage presence and timing.  Sarah recited a poem she had written, it was clever and cute, she did awesome!  Then we saw air guitaring by my 7 year old cousin Charlie, beaded keychaining by Peter, and an absolutely fabulous rendition of the ABC Song by my littlest cousin Edmond.  My Uncle Andrew and his family really stole the show with their singing and guitar acts.  My cousin Aaron who is 14 plays a mean electric guitar, it was way awesome and the song was kind of latin so it sounded way cool.  Then my cousin Nick and aunt Michelle sang a few songs together while Michelle played guitar, they were really awesome and it was so sweet.  Overall, it was a huge success and Sean is still sad we didn't come up with a performance, maybe next time.

The talent show to me was so much fun, and I loved watching Sean just loving all of it.  He told me later that he loved feeling like he was part of a big family and that he had never really had big family experiences like that.  I was glad he felt like he belonged and that he was enjoying the reunion.

Day 3:

By day 3 I did not want to get up, we were having early morning and late nights and I was beat from the work week before the weekend even came.  We slept in a little, and then headed up to the Boise City Downtown Market.  We got there late, but luckily spotted family rather quickly and joined right back in.  The market was neat.  It is really huge, probably the biggest Saturday Market I have ever been too.  The best part was all of the little street performers.  I had never seen so many before.  We also enjoyed plenty of donuts.  It seemed like everyone in the family had some, and everyone kept offering them to us, and we were not complaining.  We met up with everyone at this big fountain, and regrouped while everyone took their last chance to browse at the market.  It was hot and we were all beat, and hungry!!

We all headed over to the Sun Ray Cafe for lunch.  It was a cute little cafe and we all sat together in the back room, there was so many of us!!

I ate my first Gyro for lunch, and there was tons of laughing and talking and catching up with my little bros!

After lunch we headed back to my Grandma Schiess's house for a much needed nap.  The little ones napped, and I tried to snooze a little.  Soon I was interrupted by two, no, three cute boys wanting me to join them in a game of 2 vs. 2 basketball.  I will not lie, I was hesitant and tired.  After about 5 minutes I  was up and ready to play.  Sean and I played some 2 vs. 2 with Logan and Noah.  I have to admit, although it was ridiculously hot, we had a great time.  Me and Noah won the first game, and then we switched it up and Sean and Noah won.  Logan was so funny, and kept shouting out made up rules he wanted us to follow.  We had an awesome time, and on the last game Logan scored all the points for his team and he and Sean won!  He was sinking shots all over the court.  I think Sean really loved playing with them and liked making memories with them that they can remember us by.


Then it was time to get ready and head over to the pool for Charlie's 7th Birthday Party!!  All the cousins were swimming, and diving off the diving board and eventually the swimming turned into a huge water gun fight.  We had all these little toys that would shoot water super far, and I can't even tell you how many surprise attacks and shots to the face I took.  Little Peter seemed to have it out for me, and he was pretty relentless.

There was also an unofficial cannonball contest with the Uncles.  Here's my dad's attempt   --------->







We ate tons of yummy tacos and after Charlie painfully waited all night, it was time to open presents and eat cupcakes!!

It was a fun birthday, and definitely memorable.  It's not often that everyone in your family is at your birthday party, at least that's never happened to me.

The close of the birthday party meant saying goodbyes, and after heading back to grandma's to gather our stuff, it was sad to think that the weekend and the reunion were over.


We both had an awesome time, and a big thanks to Darron for all the awesome pics!!