Andy at age 13

This past year has marked some real growth for Andy. He grew 8 inches between Sept. 2023 and Sept. 2024, starting at 5'1" and ending at 5'9". I think he's grown another couple inches since then and is looking really close to Cameron these days. (They wear the same shoe size right now!) He's in the thick of teenager-hood these days and is changing rapidly. We love him so much.

We try to have monthly appointments to go do baptisms at the temple. Cameron and I usually alternate taking him. In general Andy likes going and says he notices he feels good the rest of the day when we go.

Andy continues to mostly enjoy mountain biking. He did the Junior Devos again this year. He and I had to share my bike this season because he outgrew his old bike.

Andy loves cars and is always taking pictures of cool cars when we're out and about.

Like the rest of the middle school boys, Andy wanted a summer buzz. Most boys also bleached theirs, but he's so blonde it already looked bleached.

Andy and cute Grant in Bear Lake. Andy's really sweet with the younger cousins.

Andy went to BYU soccer camp with Kade Ballam and got to sleep over for the first time! All in all a success even though we didn't know he was supposed to bring soap, so I'm sure he was the smelliest camper all week. He told me he just showered with water haha.

His counselor

He's still sometimes into pokemon. He and Max will occasionally play together.

At a trampoline park this summer with his friend Grayer. He hangs out with Grayer a lot.

Andy and Louie

At a junior devo race

I think this is from a ride in Cedar City after a junior devo race. It was fun to do races with Charlie this year!

Big change--Andy switched to a new soccer team this year! Overall, it's been a great thing. The new coach Ezra is awesome. Andy's a key player and get a lot of play time. Bronson and Cooper from his old team moved to this team too. He plays defense. He prefers the side (I think left?) but coach has been sticking on mid more.

He's done choir this year and has really liked it. We told him we'd pay him $50 if he accompanies them next semester. (We did talk him into joining our ward choir recently and he even accompanied the choir today playing "Still, Still, Still."

Andy kept telling me he'd go on a big hike with me so I finally checked him out in October and we did Sunset Peak together. It was so fun to have some one on one time with him and he totally opened up to me and chatted with me much more willingly and openly than I typically experience. I felt like I had an afternoon back with my boy that I've missed so much. I loved it.

Also, he's a good hiker! I wondered if he'd have trouble keeping up with me but he had no trouble at all.

Andy's been deacons quorum president since January and it's been a wonderful experience for him. He's really good about taking his responsibilities seriously and remembers his meetings, activities he's supposed to plan, etc. He still gets to church early so he can be ready to pass the sacrament (I think this is mostly because he has a certain position that's his favorite).

Andy's had very strong opinions about his hair this year. And they differ from my opinions haha. We finally went to GOAT haircuts and settled on this compromise. I'm still not a fan of the front of his hair, but I'll deal with it. :) He was very pleased with this haircut. You can just tell overall how much he really cares about his clothes, hair, shoes, and everything appearance related these days. 

Piano has been quite the battle. We tell him he require him to do it, even though he says he'd like to quit. We promise him he'll regret this, so we won't allow it. He practices an hour a day. (Though I would say, probably 20-30 minutes of it is effective practice.) His main pieces this year have been Prokofiev Sonata No. 2 4th movement and Liebestraum No. 3 by Liszt. It was so fun to hear him play "my" Prokofiev from when I was young! (Even if he wasn't open to any feedback from me and still plays some wrong notes that I don't bother to correct, haha.) He wasn't quite ready in time for the Encore Keyboard Comp. so we had him do the Ogden Piano Festival. He got second place! He's incredibly talented and good and makes remarkable progress considering how little he actually practices. He's working on Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G minor right now and really loves it. He's always wanted to play it. He also just accompanied our ward choir with Still, Still, Still. His first time accompanying and he did great!

Another pic of his awesome new team. They got first in their division and will move up this spring.

Choir concert

8th grade picture

• He's wanted to learn to wear contacts, but is particularly sensitive to touching his eyes and it has been very difficult. He's tried every year for the last few years. He recently broke his glasses playing basketball (I think this has happened five times), so he was particularly motivated to try again because he really hates his backup glasses. He did finally get contacts in one day, but I'm not sure if they just weren't in right or don't fit correctly? He could hardly keep his eyes open and they were all swollen by the end of the night. But he acted like he was fine haha.
• Girls. I don't want to embarrass Andy too much, but I'll just say he usually has a certain girl he's texting quite a bit. Right now, it's Jules. Earlier this year it was Isla. He may have dropped off a candy bar on her porch as a Christmas present.
• He's still super into candy and treats in general. He stole almost my entire stash of piano teaching treats (this was a large stash) and I found all the wrappers under his pillow. Entire bags of things will disappear of things and we all know it was Andy. He also takes all of our gum. 
• He is super into his music and is constantly listening. We recently got him an iphone and his own spotify account plus airpods. But before that, he had to use his gabb phone to make video recordings of music playing from his alexa. He had hundreds of recordings on his phone. He'd use headphones to listen. We go to say his name a lot only to realize he can't hear us because he always has headphones in. He loves Travis Scott and rap in general. Right now his favorite song is Dark Red by Steve Lacy. Also 90210 by Travis Scott. 
• He's usually blasting music from his alexa late at night even though we've told him not to and that his lights to be turned off, haha. He still likes both of us to come down and say goodnight to him, which I think is really sweet. He'll usually let me hug him but he says "no kisses." :)
• Andy says 8th grade has been better than 7th grade. He's still learning how to stay organized and on top of assignments. And how to study in advance for things, instead of always planning on just retaking things if they don't go well. We've recently had to create a system where he comes home from school and does an hour of homework where we can see him (so he doesn't just play games on his chromebook). We also have an incentive system where he gets paid for grades. I think his hardest subject has been Spanish and he doesn't love it. Choir has been his favorite. He recently did the honor choir. He's still in all four ALL classes (spanish, math, english, and history). He's a really smart kid!
• Screens continue to be a hot topic with Andy! We recently realized he'd been getting up at midnight to watch the Simpsons. (He's only admitted to doing this a couple of times, but I'm sure it's happened more than that.) So, we had to buy a new family IT system where we have more control over when devices work and what he can see. 
• He loves to play ping pong and is very good. He and Cameron play a lot at night. 
• One of the things he'll semi-willingly do with me is play Cover Your Assets. But I think he's won basically every time. He's a genius and counts cards, and I never stand a chance. 
• Friends! He's definitely at the age he wants to be with friends constantly and never with his family. :) His second family is Grayer Paulsen's family. He also loves to be at Kade Ballam's house. Isaac Smart joins with that group a lot too. He also has a group of ALL friends he hangs out with--Nathan, Bennett, Parker, Drew, and Gideon. He's also been hanging out with Rhett with Newman. It seems like he has good friends and is surrounding himself with good people. 
• Andy talks about his mission semi-regularly. He also wants to go to BYU. He also talks about wanting to make a lot of money so he can buy a big modern house and drive a Porsche 911GT3RS. His mind was blown after going to House of Jade's parade home and he started talking about how he was going to make enough money to live in a house like that. :) 
• We love our Andy! He's definitely in full blown teenager mode, but he's still such a good kid. We can't wait to see where life takes him. 

Max at age 11

Our Maxy! What can I say about this special boy? I adore him. He's definitely grown up a lot this last year. He's very eager to be more grown up and abandon things that are for little kids. He continues to be a deep thinker and wants to know how everything works and wants to understand things. He's a big communicator and likes to connect with people. He has very big feelings and emotions. He's incredibly creative. He's a mama's boy, which I love. He's shyer on the surface and doesn't love meeting new people, but he's incredibly social with the people he knows and feels comfortable with. I've always had a special place in my heart for this special boy.

He bought this sweatshirt at the vans outlet and loves it. He wore it a whole lot for several months after he got it. 

 He continues to be a big BYU fan. He felt very betrayed and was appalled when I went to a U of U gymnastics meet with Violet.

He's still a big reader and I usually find him with a book whenever there's downtime. He got a kindle this year and has used it a lot. He's insistent that he has to read every night for at least a few minutes before bed. (A man of routines, for sure.)

He and Graham continue to be very close friends. It makes my heart so happy. He recently said about Graham,"Graham is the kind of friend who brings extra money to school for me to buy a sucker in case I forget money." I've thought about that so much. I'm so glad he has such a good friend.

This project is so typical of Max! He made the coolest Valentines box this year. He thought of it all on his own and had this big plan. He spent so much time on it and it was so cool. I love his ideas.

I love Max's art.

We're still trying to talk him into enjoying mountain biking and it's only kind of working. :)

He did a AA soccer team for the first time for the 2023-2024 season. It wasn't a great fit overall and we went back to a rec team for 2024-2025. Honestly, I think the rec team is better? It's been a better fit overall. 

The cutest Augustus Gloop that ever was! Max surprised us by wanting to try out for the school play, Willy Wonka. He told them he didn't want a big part and didn't want any singing solos--they cast him as Charlie, haha. He felt like that was too big of a part for his first play, so they switched him to Augustus Gloop. It was a great experience overall. He was incredibly nervous as the performances got closer. But I was so proud of him. He did it! He got up and did great and conquered his fear! It was a great learning experience for him and we talked about how he can always remember it as proof he can do really hard things out of his comfort zone.

Max has continued to grow as a pianist and is sounding incredible. He made it to the honors recital for the concerto festival. He played a concerto by Vandall and loved it. He actually did every encore event for 2023-2024 so he could earn a plaque. He has the same goal for 2024-2025. Cameron still practices with him and does a great job.

I find funny pictures like this on my phone. This was the first year we let him get friends' phone numbers on his gabb watch. This was the picture he took and sent to Brielle Richins to use as his contact picture haha.

Andy and Max both shaved their heads in May!

He looks happy here, but overall definitely regretted the buzz decision. Someone teased him in primary once and he hated it after that. (He's definitely one to hold a grudge and will probably remember who teased him forever.) 

The three amigos! These three did a lot together all summer. Their favorite was riding bikes to snoasis.

Max is still a mama's boy and always wants to sit by me. GG recently commented that you can always find Max right next to his mom, and I realized she's right. Especially at family gatherings or big social gatherings he's always right by me. I think I'm a comfort blanket for him. :) He always is still a big physical touch guy and always wants to snuggle. Oh and he's always demanding that I scratch his back haha. Sometimes I do, sometimes I say I'm not his servant.

His funny idea for the Bear Lake Messick Variety show. It was so funny. He did the main Greatest Showman song.

Cutest swimmers

Snoasis

Max got this new suit and decided he looked just like a butler and so he decided to be one. :)

Max talked about crashing Libby Tucker's birthday party, which was all girls. After I talked to Libby's mom, he and Graham officially got permission to go for the last 30 minutes. The girls started screaming and squealing and then had them do girly things like these face masks.

He worked so hard to be ready for the Keyboard Competition! He got third place in his division. He played Mozart Sonata k. 280 3rd mvt. and Bartok Bagatelle.

Max had the funnest idea to be in charge of the food at Violet's birthday party. He and Graham spent the whole day preparing menus and thinking through every detail of taking orders, delivering food, etc. It really highlights what's so special about Max--big ideas, intelligent execution, detail oriented, and just so fun! He totally made the birthday party. They also hid the dolls all over the basement in funny ways. The girls loved it and several of the girls said they had crushes on Max by the end of the night. :)

Max was a waiter named Pierre and Graham was a chef.

Some friends of Max came to cheer him on at his soccer game and made this cute poster! (Danielle, Hattie, and Hadley)

Max decided to do a funny picture for his 5th grade picture and it's just so him to do that. He's just so funny. Also--he's worn this onesie every night all year until I finally got him a second onesie a month ago (Sonic). He's a big onesie guy.

• Max is very into money this year. He learned how to ride his bike to Smith's with friends, usually Graham and Bailey. (Though he doesn't love the uphill ride home.) He loves to buy all sorts of trinkets and treats at the store. He got his own debit card this year and definitely puts it to use. He has a thread wallet he uses and carries everywhere. 
• He's developed a love for onesie pajamas and wore his Christmas onesie basically every night the whole year until I recently bought him a sonic onesie to add to the rotation.
• I recently asked him the hardest part of his life, and he said, "Not being taller." He really dislikes being one of the shorter kids in the grade. We have lots of chats about that. Although--I recently uncovered that he rarely eats lunch at school (and I've definitely noticed he doesn't eat much at home). So we've talked more about how important it is to give our bodies three meals a day that include carbs/fat/protein and that his body can't grow without giving it enough food. 
• In general we're working on shifting to a more positive mindset. We might be doing the funnest thing in the world and Max tends to find the one thing that could be better or isn't quite right. :)
• Max loves bedtime chats with me and wants me to lay in his bed and chat with him every night. He's not happy if it's just for a minute. We talk about all sorts of things; I love it. He always wants me to scratch his back too. 
• He's definitely involved in the school drama lately. It'll usually be Hattie and Brielle fighting and Max is in the middle of them sending messages back and forth. 
• Max is our biggest foodie. He cares about presentation and enjoys a fancier meal. I saw him make avocado toast recently (one of his favorites) and put a sprinkle of some herb on the top. He also loes to make his own eggs, grilled cheese, and breakfast sandwiches. 
• He still has his big temper and big feelings! Something we're definitely talking about and working on. I do love his passion and opinions...most of the time. :) 
• Related to the temper: he also is the king of insults. It's hard to be mad sometimes cause they're pretty funny. Yesterday he called someone "chowder cheeks." And I also heard on the Alexa "Go to Walmart and buy some ears, butt head." 
• The are basically no pictures with Violet and Max for a reason--he finds her to be incredibly annoying. Another thing we have lots of chats about! I hear lots of screaming upstairs at this very moment, and can safely bet he is the culprit. 
• He's played soccer for quite a few years now, but it feels like he all of a sudden made a huge jump this fall! He's playing with a new rec team, but it's a fantastic team and a great coach. It's been a great fit! He's made a goal at almost every game and is really excited about playing indoor. He keeps asking when it will start. (Which, by the way, he's one of the most persistent people you will ever meet.)
• While he's definitely a mama's boy, he also finds me to be the most embarrassing person on the planet. I told his class last year I would do a dance for them and he almost died of embarrassment.
• We love our Maxy! (Even though he doesn't like when I call him that anymore.) He's a big personality with lots of ideas and we love having him in our home and family.