Rolling through December

Backing up to December, lots happened in the few days between Brooklyn's homecoming on Wednesday and her homecoming talk on Sunday.

For starters, Annika played percussion in her Middle School band concert. She did great, especially on the xylophone. So many thanks to Mr. Watson for teaching her!

ASSIST had their annual Christmas party as well. Here are Jen and Georgia setting up.

Perhaps the best part was the empanadas they made. Andres invited everyone to his home to teach them the secret family recipe. Well done!  They were delicious.

So glad Uncle Justin and Violet could make it. It's worth the drive for a piece of Jason's stellar cheesecake!

As long as I'm talking about ASSIST, here are some photos they took a long time ago that I forgot to post. From left to right we have Bailie, Georgia, Sam, Zizheng, Andres, Jason, Soudabeh and Jen. If you have a prayer to spare, we'd love some positive thoughts sent into the universe for Soudy. There have been some pretty discriminatory challenges with renewing her work visa because she is from Iran. We are praying that the authorities will review her file with more fairness and compassion instead of sending her back.

Later that evening we went out to eat with our friends Sonja and Brian at Avenues Proper. Tasty! Afterward, we headed to Hatch Family Chocolates for a sweet treat.

Plus, the live music was great. I love Bluegrass!

We also squeezed in a Christmas concert with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. Thank you Melanie for the amazing seats! Even though we had tickets, almost all of the seats in our section were filled when we arrived so we opted to sit separately and still have a great view up front.

Unlike those who sat in traffic for hours, we drove for about five minutes and walked for ten. Sometimes I really love living in downtown Salt Lake.

Even more exciting was Eli's Red Rock Robotics competition. I tell you, until you see these robots in action, it's hard to imagine how big they are and how fast they moved It is SO fun to watch!

It's just as rewarding to see how much Eli is looked up to as a leader on his robotics team. He invests so much time in the program. It's heart-warming to see him thrive and excel in an environment that he loves.

The theme for this AMES competition was "chill and grill." They had to put wooden planks of "firewood" in the bottom portion of this "stove" and toss "vegetables" (plastic balls) into the top chute to grill.

Of course, it's extra fun when your robot is performing so well. Their 3006A bot made their way to the top of the rankings at the very beginning of the competition and stayed there.

In the end, they won the competition. I don't know if I've ever seen Eli cheer so loudly. He was thrilled! The team left motivated to take apart their robot and build something even better for the primary competition season.

Congratulations Red Rock Robotics! West High sponsored three robotics teams--that's amazing! In their main competition season, they are planning on two teams: RRR (Red Rock Robotics) and RPR (Red Pebble Rebels.) I love it! 

Also, cheers to Ms. Bulson for committing so much time to the team. Her license plate shows the level of her devotion. Now go 3006!