Oh in terms of losing all your apps if you update, google play keeps a list of apps that you've "bought", and you just go through that and reinstall the ones that you want. No guarantee on their data if they don't use google's backup service thing, but still pretty good.
HI GARDEN!!!!! Your post made me grin :') you are SO sweet, as you always have been ^__^♥ and your background is honestly too endearing for words. To my dismay I still can't sent you a sticker :(( work on that tbh!!
flash it yourself instead of using the official google one then, i'll find you a link. Also you should backup your phone. google stores which apps you've bought, but not necessarily their storage/information