Sunday December 27, 2009
In 2009, Fred & Bonnie Heidenreich (members of our ward when I was growing up in Tucson) had three grandchildren turning the age of 8 and getting ready to be baptized who lived in various places in the United States. They were all getting together for Christmas and decided to have a special family baptism with all three children when everyone would be present and able to attend. Maren's daughter, Amy; Joe's son, Peter; and John's daughter, Reina. Since my Jon is one of John H's best friends we were invited to attend. It was one of the coolest baptisms I've been to. There were so many familiar faces that I hadn't seen in a while that it almost felt like a high school reunion. All of the Heidenreichs were there, plus Dave & Julia Whetten and their kids, Tim & Clarisa Gailey with their 8 kids, 1 foster child, and 1 baby on the way (I am completely amazed by them, by the way- all 8 of their kids were so well behaved and reverently sitting and singing hymns when appropriate, while my boys were making faces at each other and we kept having to take the girls out into the hall because they were being too noisy), Alan & Annie Kowalski, and Matt & Mindy Richins were there with their kids as well. Rodney Fuller (Maren's husband) presided, Heidi Heidenreich (Joe's wife) conducted, Corey Smith (Heather's husband) accompanied. John gave the opening prayer, then Laura gave a great talk on baptism. My favorite part was when the three children being baptized sang If The Savior Stood Beside Me together. It was too sweet! I wish I had a picture of them, but you know, no flash photography and all that. After the baptismal ordinances were performed, Maren gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and then Joe and Heidi sang To A Child. Very sweet. We were busy chatting with people afterward and almost forgot to take any pictures. I remembered as we were heading out to the car, so I had Jon run in and take some pictures of those who were left while I waited in the car with the kids. The whole Heidenreich crew were already conveniently assembling themselves for photos. Nice.
from back left to right: Chloe (Dave & Julia's oldest), Clarisa with foster baby, Heidi with her son and I believe the little girl in the front is also one of Joe & Heidi's five kids.
Laura & John
Clarisa with mother, Annie, and sisters, Laura and Julia
That is so wow. We LOVE those Heidenrichs!
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this--it was like a mini-reunion! Here's the "six degrees" breakdown: The Espiriti girls were on my ward for a while and Julie and I took a science class together at Utah Valley; I am the same age as Maren, but haven't seen her since "RICKS COLLEGE!"; Heidi H.'s aunt was one fo my fave companions on my mission (and her dad's famiy story is amazing--they have like 14 or 18 uber-talented kids and lost their mom but have a great step-mom00who would be Heidi's grandma, i guess). I totally love our small Mormon world...especially the Heidenreichs. And the Hendersons :) I think of your mom everytime I look at her lovely art hagnign around my house!
ReplyDeletehahaha! you are soo funny. but i guess your kids are just so adorable, you couldn't take your eyes off them to see what my kids were doing... loved seeing you there! we still have to get together! your husband is so sweet to take all the pictures for you. i am going to save this post to my commputer so i can always, always remember it!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome. When I first heard that Clarissa had eight kids, I told everyone I knew whether they knew her or not. "There is this girl I knew in college, who is younger than me, who has eight kids already! She is younger than me! And has eight kids!" And then I would wait for the people to be appropriately surprised. Because, regardless of what my driver's license says, I am not old enough to have eight kids!! I refuse to believe that.
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