Prinny!

You (we) made it! Eighteen glorious, hard and hilarious years on this earth. One thing’s for sure, you’ve kept us on our toes since before you were even born! When you were still in the womb, Dad told you if you were born (early) the next day, he would buy you a car when you turned 16. My water broke the next morning and you were born at 11:10 p.m. that evening.

Well, we’re two years late on the car but Happy Birthday! Then again, it took almost two years to get your license so we’ll call it even.

This has been the year you’re starting to figure out life. We toured colleges last year and you fell in love with the schools in Southern Utah, or at least the idea of them (sorry, SUU’s My Little Pony Club and Dixie’s palm trees are not reasons to go to college).  In the end, it wasn’t until we toured aesthetics schools that something really clicked and you will enroll in Acaydia Spa & School of Aesthetics in the fall. I mean, beautifying while inflicting pain. What a perfect career choice!

You and Bode reconnected and bonded during quarantine and you have corrupted the lad with your anime infatuation (though his Minecraft obsession has also rubbed off on you). When I told you that he’d miss you when you moved away, you responded, “Yes. I have something to tell you at the end of the summer.” Me: “Tell me now.” You: “I was with a friend when I ran into Bode skipping class to get something to eat with friends.” Me: “REALLY.” You: “I told him to have fun and I wouldn’t tell Mom and my friend couldn’t believe there is someone out there who has a great relationship with her brother.” Nice. Covering for each other’s mischief for 16 years.

You have enjoyed having Swiss exchange student Maelle in our home this past year and your other good friends include Edyn, Maddie, Monty (whom you’ve been dating for a year), Jordan and Sydney.

You’ve been to Homecoming, Preference and Prom and nothing was more memorable than your response to Monty for HoCo where you decorated his car with a stunning painting of Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” and cut-off ears (fake, of course). You’re obsessed with the TV show Criminal Minds and have loved your Psychology class discussions on mass murders and psychopaths but let’s hope it ends with only fake body parts.

Travels this year included Vail and Breckenridge, Colorado for a back-to-school trip, St. George for Fall Break where you climbed Angel’s Landing for the first time, a Canadian Christmas (with record-breaking cold), Sun Valley, Idaho for my 50th birthday and one of our favorite family vacations ever: The Bay Area for Spring break where we had a blast in a gorgeous house in San Rafael and played in San Francisco, Half Moon Bay, Muir Woods, Stinson Beach and Fitzgerald Marine Preserve’s tide pools. In your shocked, immortal words, “I can’t believe nothing went wrong on this trip!” Miracles never cease.

We put our beloved Fat Kitty to rest in April 2020 and we adopted a beautiful, fluffy kitty named Mochi last September. Your cuties Golden Retriever Chewy and Aussie Zelda came back into your life for a few months and you landed a job at Earth and Eden, a local garden center, where you can go as crazy as you want with your plant obsession, so long as you don’t bring any more of them home. You love all-things creative. You made a summer bucket list that includes learning to embroider and you already checked off another one of those items to make a gourmet dessert (your millefeuille was delicious and you have become a fabulous cook!) You chopped off your hair and are ready to rock your new look and new life.

It’s bittersweet to see you graduate and we’re incredibly proud of you. It has not been an easy journey these past several years and you’ve battled (sometimes) limped through it to the finish line but you’re here. You graduated with honors. You were awarded $3,000 in scholarships and found out the day after graduation that you won your high school’s art show. And now, you have your whole life ahead of you, one that I hope will be filled with creativity, love, laughter and light as you surround yourself with good things and people.

Bloom Where You’re Planted. Climb Every Mountain. Not My Will But Thine Be Done. Seek out light. Cling to your Savior. Surround yourself with good people and, most importantly be the good. Travel. Laugh. Worship. Explore. Pray. Ponder. And laugh some more.

Life will never be easy but He has promised you will be able to get through anything in your life when you put Him first.

We have loved you for so long. It has been our honor and privilege to raise you, our beautiful, talented spitfire. Now, FLY.

XOXOXO

Maman

Hadley Birthday Letters

For a stroll down memory lane, read letters for your 17th birthday letter, 16th, 15th, 14th,  13th, 12th, 11th, 10th, 9th,  8th, 7th, 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd and your birth story.

Angel’s Landing

Christmas in Canada

Chinatown

Maddie’s 18th

Muir Woods

New York City!

Preference

Prom

Fenway Park in Boston

Midway Ice Rink

Bay Area California

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Dear Hadley,

Happy 17th birthday and what a year it has been! It started during the height of a pandemic with your Sweet 16 in lockdown. We managed to have a lovely backyard family party at Aunt Tammy’s, cruise around in a vintage gold car and have an outdoor movie night with Edyn and Zoe but the rest of it sure didn’t live up to expectations. Much like a lot of 2020/21. But you survived, you were one of the first teenagers to be fully vaccinated in Utah and the world awaits!

Except you still have no idea what to do with it. How about let’s start by getting your driver’s license?

Last fall, we did a mother-daughter road trip to visit some universities in Southern Utah. You loved SUU because of your fun tour and their “My Little Pony Club” (an excellent reason to apply), but when we walked onto DSU’s campus, Dixie became your first choice because Palm Trees! Warmth! What every college kid looks for in their potential school. We also visited Snow College which you were less impressed with because it’s small but there is still plenty of time to decide. You recently floated the idea of traveling around the nation in a van which, on the surface, wanderlust is good. But living in a van? Reality bites, especially after being conditioned to The Broadmoor.

You had a blast with Monty and your friends at Prom and begrudgingly performed at Promenade, a 100+year old tradition at WHS, to appease your mother (you’ll thank me in 20 years). You limped across the finish line of junior year with a shockingly good GPA that we salvaged by dropping math when we found out you had enough math credits for graduation. Let’s hear it for being done with math forever! Well, at least while you’re in high school. Senior year looks promising! You have a few required classes and then fun. Horticulture/greenhouse. Jewelry. Art. Weight lifting. Travel/tourism. Even psychology sounds interesting to you. Our exchange student, Maelle, will be arriving in August so you will have a Swiss sister for your senior year which will provide its own set of opportunities and challenges since you’re ruled the roost for so long but our hope is you will both have a blast as queens of the school your senior years.

Finishing our basement has been drudgery during COVID but we finally finished in fall 2020. Our theater room has become a hot spot for you and Bode to hang out with your friends (Monty, Edyn and Maddie are your regulars). You moved into your new bedroom which we built with your needs in mind: a huge walk-in closet (much bigger than mine), a carpeted bedroom area and then a tiled area for doing art. You have little interest in decorating it, except for a gazillion plants and every time you walk into a store, you beg me to buy you more. And a frog. Aunt Lisa has become your plant mentor and here’s for hoping her OCD cleanliness will rub off on you. Though not likely; when I briefly lived with her at Grandma and Grandma’s, she was a complete slob so maybe we all start out that way and some of us evolve.

During quarantine, you developed an interest in puzzles, became an expert in Minecraft and expanded upon your makeup artistry–everything from the grotesque to the stunning. Pink is your favorite color (at least that’s what I assume from all the times you’ve dyed your hair) and you have your Grandma B.’s flair for fashion. You can make anything look cute (except for that one time I commented you looked like to Emu even though I meant to say Emo). You have worked off-and-on at Dairy Keen this year and you fell in love and had your hearts broken by Chewy (a golden retriever) and Zelda (an Australian shepherd) with whom you and Bode were hired to dog walk shortly after Fat Kitty’s passing. You had many wonderful adventures together and they were the perfect distraction when we were stuck at home but they sadly moved away earlier this year. We thought we wanted a puppy…until we puppy sat several labradoodle puppies and we decided maybe we’re not puppy people. But you’re still obsessed with getting a golden retriever and you were delighted to recently see Chewy, even though he was a big drooling, hairy mess who, in his excitement to see you, had a death grip on a dirty diaper; he knows how to charm.

Despite COVID restrictions, we were able to do some local trips this year. Girl’s Camp was canceled and changed to just one evening. The Canadian border is closed.  The week before Memorial Day 2020, we met our friends the Hardymans to camp at the Grand Canyon…and were evacuated on Night 1 due to a wildfire (but talk about a memorable story about your first visit to this iconic National Park).  In July, we had our final houseboat adventures at Lake Powell with the Olsens because they sold their boat but those lazy, hot days on the water are some of our favorite memories. Last August, we had an awesome vacation in Crested Butte where we climbed 12,162-foot Mount Crested Butte (stunning) and mountain biked (not your favorite), and we had the time of our lives white-water rafting the Arkansas River and ziplining and scaling the precipitous Via Ferrata at Royal Gorge. The lodge we stayed at overlooking the deep cavern was spectacular and it was a fantastic family trip back to Colorado.

For my birthday in February, we took a fun vacation to Bryce Canyon with the Olsens and then for Spring Break we flew out to Sea Island, Georgia for a beautiful beach vacation where you proved you can still fly a kite while passed out on the beach. On June 1st, you will embark on the trip-of-a-lifetime with your brother through Illumuniate Youth Tours. Church History sites. Boston. Chicago. New York City. Washington, D.C. The Sacred Grove. Your Dad and I will be living vicariously through you back home…and paying off your trip. You had your orientation meeting last weekend and you’re most excited for New York City and least excited for the lack of personal time–17 days, 23 days and 30 teens. “Why do we always tell introverts to get out of their comfort zones?” you mused. “Why can’t we just tell extroverts to shut up?”

You are hilarious, beautiful, smart, immovable, adventurous, talented, artistic, sassy, loved and worthy. When you set your mind to something, you’re unstoppable.

None of us can believe you’re turning 18 in just one year. A couple of weeks ago, you marveled, “I can’t believe I’ll be an adult soon and will be able to vote and buy a fish from Petco.”

Climb every mountain. And buy those fish, girl.

We love you (now, go do your homework),

XOXOXO

Mom

P.S. For a stroll down memory lane, read letters for your 16th birthday letter, 15th, 14th,  13th, 12th, 11th, 10th, 9th,  8th, 7th, 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd and your birth story.

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Dear Prin,

I never thought we would see this day! Sweet 16 in Quarantine! Just as we’ve always dreamed! This past year has been a return to light after a few very dark years as you’re starting to figure out who you are (or maybe, return to who you always were). You’re a hilarious, smart, beautiful, creative creature who has a bright future and you’re just starting to figure out how capable you are.

For your sophomore year of high school, you have started carving out your place here. In Colorado, you had a built-in friend group since birth and rebuilding has been a slow process. Friends have come and gone but this year, you started to attend high school football games with friends, Homecoming with a group from our ward and a new friend group on the other side of town.

You were accepted into the Kimball Art Center’s Young Artist Academy. Though it was a bit of a pain to drive to Park City every Tuesday night, it became your safehaven. No matter your mood going in, you always came out rejuvenated and refreshed as you were given the freedom to create and just be. My favorite part was our chats when we drove home when you would talk freely about the many things on your mind, a reminder of when you were an unfiltered little girl and would chat about anything and everything.

You have loved make-up since seventh grade but this year, you’ve taken it to the next level. Your face has become your palette for the whimsical, fun, weird and grotesque (yes, I’m talking about those bloody horror movie makeovers). I never know what you’re going to come up with next and it’s so fun to see your creativity shine in different ways.

We are in the process of finishing our basement and it has been a lot of work for all of us but most especially your father. You will finally get the larger room and closet at the back of the house you’ve coveted since we moved here…and we can’t wait to finally have a home theater room and rec area for you to hang out with your friends. After almost four years of living here, we finally put up our trampoline a couple of days ago after a looooong series of missteps of your dad buying a cheap, used trampoline that needed a mat upgrade, only to order the wrong one three times in a row. But! We finally have a trampoline and you’ve spent more time on it than any of us.

Quarantine has been…quarantine. As I’m writing this, we’re been over 2 months isolated as a family. Online schooling has been rough because it’s just not your out-of-the-book, experiential learning style but you’ve managed to crank out mostly As and a couple of Bs. In some ways, you have thrived as an introvert. You’ve taken up puzzles.  You’ll spend hours on Tik Tok and YouTube while blasting your heater. You don’t feel pressured to go out. But in other ways, you were just starting to spread your wings so two months with your parents feel stifling at times.

You and Bode have bonded and have reestablished a strong relationship. You both picked up a dog-walking gig and your jaunts with Chewy and Zelda have been a highlight, especially after the passing of your beloved Fat Kitty last month. When we first brought Fat Kitty home 10+ years ago, you were obsessed with him and his passing was devastating for you. But now, you’re obsessed with getting a dog which Dad says will happen after we finally finish the basement and fence in the yard. If the timeline is anything like the trampoline, that means…20 years from now.

Last year for your 15th birthday, we were at our glorious Broadmoor which had been our standing tradition for a number of years. Sadly, my PR contact retired and those beloved trips have come to an end (hopefully not forever) so we’ll be creating new traditions now. We will be going to Salt Lake City today to shop for your new room and have a backyard Cafe Zupas dinner with the Johnson clan. Hopefully when the basement is finished and social distancing is a thing of the past, we can have a nice, big soiree to truly celebrate you!

We had a few great trips that included Canada and a detour to Jasper en route from the B.C. Lakehouse to Calgary.  You had a blast attending OFY (Outdoors for Youth) in Idaho, as well as Heber Valley Girl’s Camp (where you were beyond thrilled to have me as your camp director!) Our friends the Olsens and Andersons, invited us on their Lake Powell houseboat last summer which was a glorious, hot week of wakesurfing, cliff jumping, playing games and late nights.  Last winter was your return to the slopes after your ski accident a couple of years ago where you worked through your PTSD and did some pretty impressive feats out there (including skiing double-black diamond McConkie’s Bowl).

You have developed a wicked sense of humor. You got your wisdom teeth out earlier in the year. I pulled Bode out of school to record what we hoped were some epic drug-induced hilarities but nothing. You snapped out of it very quickly, much to our disappointment and our inability to submit your blackmail video to America’s Funniest Videos and snag the $10,000 prize. All we got were two days of sleepless nights and lots of bloody gauzes.

You have wanted to get a job but few places were hiring at 15 (and honestly, we didn’t want you working while you were in school). You and Bode made some money by starting a business selling giant pumpkin seeds but a couple of weeks ago you landed your first real job at Dairy Keen, the local burger hotspot.  Jobs during quarantine look a lot different: they take your temperature when you arrive at work, you wear a mask and gloves, everything is deep-cleaned and partitioned off in the restaurant. They threw you right into the mix by making shakes and you’re adapting quickly and are enjoying it (with the exception of those many hours on your feet after many lackadaisical days homeschooling from our bed in quarantine).

You’re not known for saving money but when I told you if you carefully save your earnings and pay your tithing, you’d have enough money to buy a car by the end of the summer, which has fueled your fire for working. A car = independence. You’ve had a lot of anxiety about driving and the cancellation of school has forced me to become your instructor with some perilous moments (remember when you thought the gas was the brake and you lurched us forward and later said, “Wrong Pedal?” Good times.  And there was the time when you drove for the first time and kept repeating, “I am a responsible citizen,” enough times to almost make me believe it.

A couple of weeks ago, we had a breakthrough when we took the leap to have you drive into Heber for your beloved Crumbl cookies…and then get COVID tested at the outdoor testing station. You did a great and though you are still figuring out how to go in reverse (and I shudder at the thought of parallel parking), you’re making a lot of progress. You delayed getting your Learner’s Permit until last February so can’t get your license until August but I have no doubt you’ll be ready.

But will I?

As the story goes, the night before you were born (10 days before my due date), your dad was stressed out at work and told you, “Hadley, if you’re born tomorrow, I’ll buy you a car on your 16th birthday.” Of course, we can’t exactly afford that but working your butt off all summer to buy your own is almost as good, right?

I have been writing for Ski Utah this year and they hosted us at Brian Head Resort. On your first run down the tubing hill, you flew off your tube (not realizing you were supposed to HOLD ON). You sat out recovering from your face plant for a while, but on the final run, you were ALL IN…and the guy next to you serendipitously recorded our little crash dummy slam into the crash pads at the bottom.  As you limped off the course, a staffer (who had witnessed her previous incident), commented, “Wow, way to finish strong.”
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Here’s to hoping that is in all of our futures, maimed and all. Your junior and senior years are ahead of you with the potential for a lot of fun times. Remember who you are, the love of your Heavenly Father and your parents.

Now, go out and wreak havoc on the world, my little hurricane.

Love,

Mom

P.S. For a stroll down memory lane, read letters for your  15th birthday, 14th,  13th, 12th, 11th, 10th, 9th,  8th, 7th, 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd and your birth story.

(Easter 2020)

(Fat Kitty good-byes)

(Last snuggle)

(Homecoming: Ammon, Wally, Stockton, Hunter, Will, Preston, Hanna, Boston, Hadley, Kallie, Edyn)

(Salt Flats)

(Aunt Lisa’s 1980s Party)

(Lake Powell)

Dear Prinny-Princess,

Just as your nicknames frequently change, so do you! You’re wrapping up your freshman (9th grade) year and though you’re still figuring out your path, high school proved to be exponentially better than middle school and have pulled off mostly A and A- for grades! Unfortunately, you got cut from the volleyball team but fortunately, you took two art classes–painting and pottery–and reminded yourself that art is your passion and talent. You spend hours in your room painting and people have taken notice: you’ve had some friends ask you to paint their laptop covers, which I think could turn into a business opportunity. You also love photography, much to your brother’s chagrin, who takes every chance he can to avoid “the paparazzi.”

Oh, and let us not forget about your “My Little Pony Addiction” and the hundreds of hours you spent in Equestria this year. It could be worse, right?

I introduced you to yoga when you were around 7 which you described as “the worst pain ever” so I was surprised that you wanted to take a yoga class at the high school and even more shocking: you enjoyed it! You went from the least flexible person in the world (barely able to touch your knees) to a passably flexible person and can almost touch your ankles. However, your yoga enjoyment only goes so far. You went on a class field trip to a hot yoga studio at Thanksgiving Point, which you described as “the worst experience of my life.” No judgment here about your hatred for hot yoga; I won’t even do “cold” yoga.

You have had some fun trips this year. Canada for Christmas, Grandma’s funeral and last summer at the lakehouse in B.C. and Calgary.  The Johnson family reunion at Henry’s Fork Landing near Yellowstone. Our beloved Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs. Youth Conference at Bryce Canyon National Park.  Especially for Youth (EFY) in Provo. Trek in the middle-of-nowhere Wyoming. YW Girl’s Camp at Bear Lake. Vail and Beaver Creek Resorts for Spring Break where you skied #28 of Colorado’s 33 resorts.

A broken shoulder (Aqua X Zone), a busted back (skiing) and last summer was The Sailing Disaster, which has prompted me to officially pass my Murphy’s Law torch to you.  Your tiller broke at sailing lessons at Jordanelle, your sailboat capsized and while you and your partner clung to the side of the boat, the wind whipped them to shore, almost running over a [terrified] elderly woman in a kayak. You somehow emerged unscathed but the bright side is you were a celebrity when I checked you into sailing lessons the next day. Takeaway: Being a Murphy is nothing if not notorious.[/caption]

You’re still suffering PTSD from last year’s ski accident so you skied down Beaver Creek by yourself early for your first-ever massage at the Westin’s spa. That night after we went hot-tubbing as a family, you headed to the gym by yourself and just as I was starting to get impressed that you are becoming independent and oh-so capable, you never came back so Dad eventually went to find you. And there you were trying to jimmy the door open because you were locked INSIDE the gym after the attendant left…with a creepy old Asian guy who had lined up about 10 bottles of weird tea around his workout area. It’s like trying to parent myself.

You have been begging us to get braces and we will just as soon as we pay off my knee surgery and all of your medical accident debt (it never ends). You’re hankering to get a job and make your own money but pickins are slim out in these parts and 16 is the golden age. We need to make a plan for  summer because it’s wiiiiiiide open. You have had a tough time since we moved to Utah and that’s hard to witness as a mom because I felt–and still feel–we made this move for you. You have had a lot of setbacks and you often feel so defeated you just want to sleep. But sometimes we get glimpses of your former self and it’s reconfirmed to me that this journey, as hard as it is, is the path you are supposed to go through.

Broadmoor Santa

During our recent trip to Colorado for Spring Break, we saw the return of Adventure Girl (AG).  I have wanted to hike popular Hanging Lake for years and their recent announcement requiring a $shuttle$ starting in May spurred us to action. The steep pitch didn’t deter us, nor did traversing the long, icy stretches but when we came across an avalanche 3/4 of the way up that completely blocked the path, you climbed over it and wouldn’t leave until you relocated what was left of the icy “trail.”

The three sane ones in the family turned around, an argument ensued that we were ruining your life and it was only when we heard The Voice of God in the form of a WHUMPF (the sound of the collapsing snowpack as a boulder was launched from the cliffs above) that we convinced you to high-tail it outta there. Takeaways: You may the most stubborn person on the planet, even at the detriment of your own safety but my gosh, you’re determined.

You recently had a Young Women retreat at the Kuch’s cabin and I was asked to write a little something about you:

Hadley is artistic, hilarious, free-spirited and when she sets her mind to something, she is unstoppable. Don’t ask her to turn around on a mountain because you’ll never hear the end of it. You were born to Summit.

And don’t you ever forget it.

Love,

Mommy

P.S. For a stroll down memory lane, read letters for your 14th birthday,  13th, 12th, 11th, 10th, 9th,  8th, 7th, 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd and your birth story.

Teaching art for FHE

Beaver Creek Girls

The Broadmoor

Bryce Canyon

Deer Valley

The Duck Whisperer at Wasatch State Park

Cascade Springs

Ice Castles

Hanging Lake

Moraine Lake

Lover of babies

Razor racing

Trek with Allie and Jodi

Troll Falls, Canada

Yellowstone

Singing “As Zion’s Youth in Latter-days”

Waterton Lakes, Canada

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