At the conclusion of our last visit to Idaho (Cole and Aubrey's wedding), Eli asked if we would come to his baptism.  In the LDS church, children are not baptized until they are eight years old.  Eli turned eight this July and was very much looking forward to his baptism.  We quickly decided we would make the trip to Idaho, but didn't tell any of the kids that we were coming. 

Max and Miles LOVE their Uncle Lee We arrived into Boise late on Thursday night and stayed with Zach and Rochelle.  In the morning when we heard the pitter patter of little feet and sweet voices, we knew Max and Miles had no idea we were there.  We opened the bedroom/office door and confused both of those boys thoroughly.  Max said, "what are you doing in the office?" and Miles just couldn't wrap his head around it at all!  They headed off to pre-school and Lee and I put in a full day of work while the Adams family did the same.    We then enjoyed a few short hours with the boys before heading out to Bruneau.  Bruneau had never been part of the original plan, but lots is underfoot as Lee's family members are buying land, selling homes and moving.  We volunteered to go out and help with some of the packing.   We felt pretty good about what we accomplished between 8pm and 8am when we moved on to the next stop. 

The next stop was Lee's grandparents house.  While he was technical support, I went for a run. I love running in Bruneau.  There are no cars and the scenery is really quite beautiful.  This trip I ran along a High Fives from Paige canal and was accompanied by a chorus of very loud cows and calves.  From there we headed to Twin Falls where we were excited to surprise the kids.  We expected Eli to be elated.  We had heard earlier that week that Eli asked his mom to call us and ask if we were going to make it to his baptism.  When she said she didn't know if we could pull it off because we live so far away, Eli responded "I know.  That's why you have to text them now so they can start driving!"  We couldn't wait to take them by surprise.

When we got to the house, we couldn't tell if anyone was home.  Kate and Hailee were the only ones there, when they heard Lee's voice they were SUPER excited!   Just the reaction we were hoping for!   But when Eli got home and walked in the door, his reaction was nothing more than a "Oh, hi".   It reminded us of the day we watched his parents tell him we were going to Disneyland that morning -- his reaction then was just as unemotional - "oh, cool".    We wondered if he just never doubted we wouldn't be there.

The Men on Eli's Special Day Saturday afternoon, evening and Sunday morning we enjoyed hanging out with the kids and family.  We played games and hoped cute little Paige would warm up to us.  The Adams crew came over from Boise for the baptism and family dinner afterwards.  All the siblings and wives were there.  It was great to all be together - even if it was super Hailee the Bumble Bee short.  We probably should have taken a picture.   We really enjoyed being able to attend the baptism and be there for Eli.  It was a special day for him and it felt good to be there for it.

We were fortunate to spend a couple of hours with Lee's grandparents on Sunday and most of the family before we headed back to Boise to catch our plane.  It's nice that the Merricks are all in fairly close proximity to each other and we can see so many in such a short period of time.  We're looking forward to Thanksgiving when our visit will be a little longer!

We didn't take many pictures, but the ones we did take are here.