Andy at 14

 

Soccer is still a big part of Andy's life. He's on a Surf team. His coach is Coach Ezra--he's loved him. This is from when his team won a St. George tournament this year. It was such a fun, intense tournament and so fun to see them win!

Andy seems to really like his school choir. He's here with his friend Kade Ballam.

We got Andy a new bike this year! He was really excited. He keeps growing and needs a different bike every year, which is quite expensive. 

Another choir concert--this time pictured with Mitt, Lincoln, and Davis.

Andy went to BYU soccer camp with his friend Kyson and loved it.

I love when we get to see this really creative, funny side of Andy. This is when he and Max prepared a presentation on teenage slang for the Messick family reunion in Bear Lake. It was so funny and well done.

Andy's piano journey continues! He says he'd like to quit if we let him, but I don't really believe it. We require him to practice an hour a day. His practicing isn't the most focused or efficient practicing, but he still plays incredibly because he's so dang talented. This is when he participated in a new competition (I think it was called Mountain West?) and got honorable mention.  

Andy got first place in the Encore Keyboard Competition this year, a huge accomplishment! He played his Beethoven Appassionata Sonata (3rd mvt) and Liszt Liebestraum No. 3. I hadn't heard him practicing his Liszt the few days leading up to the competition and asked him about it. He told me, "Yeah, I'm not practicing it." I thought he'd learn his lesson in the competition...and then he went and won first place haha. Typical Andy! The other big accomplishment is that he's playing in Carnegie Hall this week! He won first place in a competition called The Golden Classical competition and gets to play in Carnegie Hall because he won. So exciting! He's also been working on a Debussy called "Gardens in the Rain." He wants to learn a really cute Scriabin Etude next.

Andy enjoyed being on the mountain biking team this year! He got to race on the 9th grade A team.

This is the only race I've ever been allowed to come to. He says he doesn't like the cheering and the extra attention from having more family members there.

A swimming party with his soccer team.

He got to ride Wasatch Crest with Cameron and some friends this year and loved it.

Handsome boy! 

Andy with his friend Grayer. He basically lives at Grayer's house. His other good friends are Isaac Smart, Lincoln Abbott, Kyson, Rhett, Cole Read, Kade Ballam, Cade Meyers. He has a few different friend groups he hangs out with.

Poor guy inherited all our nose problems. He had a turbinate reduction a couple of weeks ago. And he'll have a deviated septum surgery in a few years once he's done growing.

He's turned into a big BYU fan and loves watching BYU football and basketball. And he follows a fair amount of sports teams in general. I'm trying to get better at understanding sports so I have more to talk to him about.

Just a classic Andy picture! Brendan let him have this 49ers jersey, which he loves. Andy won't smile with teeth because he got braces in July. Typical fluff ball hair--all the boys have this same hair style these days. :) 

• Andy has worked so hard in school this year. He really wants to go to BYU so he's worked so hard to get good grades. He has straight A's which has been a big jump for him! He's in an AP Human Geography class. 
• He continues to grow and be tall. He's just shy of 6 feet tall right now. He wears the same size of shoes as Cameron and steals his shoes and clothes, which Cameron is not a fan of. 
• He continues to be a sneaky, devious guy. I find piles of candy wrappers (my piano teaching candy) under his pillow case. I got an email at 11:30 PM one night that told me Andy had just rented "White Chicks." A few issues here--he should have been in bed. Definitely not an approved movie. And definitely did not ask us if he could use our money to rent a movie. 
• Of course, he's still a great kid. It's cool to see him develop his own testimony and grow spiritually. He's involved in his teachers quorum (I think he's first counselor) and enjoys our monthly temple trips. He's also learning a lot in seminary and really pays attention in his church classes too. I'm impressed by how much he knows. 
• He's very into his music and is blasting rap, etc. into his air pods all the time. He can never hear us. It drives me absolutely crazy. He likes Don Toliver, Tame Impala, Giveon, Mac Dimarco. 
• He's very into Stranger Things lately and has been loving watching the new season!
• He still likes to play games on occasion. He'll play "King Domino" with me, but only if we play his way. This is very typical Andy haha. And of course he wins almost every game he plays because he's so dang smart. 
• He loves to play ping pong with Cameron and they play many nights before bed. 
• We love Andy so much and are so grateful he's part of our family.