Ice Skating in Central Park

Christmas Tree Hunting

Presidential Hopeful of Mali Fundraiser

30 Rockefeller Center

Brent's company arranged for new head shots for the New York office. Here's Brent in front of the Prometheus statue.

Lunch With the Christoffersons

David and Brent enjoyed lunch with dear friends Todd and Rainey between sessions of General Conference.

KSL's Mormon Times: "Remembering September 11th"

Brent was interviewed via Skype from his New York office at 30 Rockefeller Plaza by KSL Channel 5 (Salt Lake City) news reporter Kathy Aiken for the program "Mormon Times." The program aired on Sunday morning, September 11, 2011--the 10th anniversary of the tragedy. Follow the link below to watch the entire program. (Brent appears in "segment 1.")

Mormon Times: Remembering September 11th"

"Utahn in N.Y. knows to be prepared"

Brent was interviewed by Deseret News reporter Doug Robinson for an article that ran on Monday, September 5, 2011, in advance of the nation's 10th anniversary observance of 9/11. The article recapped some of Brent's experiences as president of the New York New York Stake. Here's a link to the article:

Deseret News: "Utahn in N.Y. knows to be prepared"

Hurricane Irene and Mormon Helping Hands

Brent and Elder Olson had the wonderful (if also sad) opportunity to assist victims of Hurricane Irene in the town of Lincoln Park, New Jersey in the Caldwell NJ Stake whose homes were badly flooded. The day began with early (and abbreviated) sacrament services at the Englewood Ward.

Some of Brent's photos of the day's activities were used in the Church's update report (all but one of the photos):

LDS Newsroom: "Hurricane Irene Cleanup Update"

LDS Living Article: "Remembering 9/11"

Brent's experiences on 9/11 as president of the New York New York Stake were featured in the September 2011 issue of LDS Living magazine. Here is the link to the article:

LDS Living: "Remembering 9/11"

Belnap Belles Bounce Back with a Bang!

The Belnap Belles "bounced back" to Lagoon for this photo. Oh shoot!

Belnap Boys Shoot It Out at Lagoon

The Belnap Boys did it again--they got "shot" at Pioneer Village at Lagoon in Farmington, Utah.

Hiking the Narrows at Zions National Park

Brent, Christopher, and Spencer hiked the Narrows at Zions National Park--a 16-mile hike through the heart of some of the most spectacular and rugged scenery anywhere--in 11 hours. The grueling hike took its toll on the team, in no small part due to a bout of illness that was passing through the family. Everyone was glad to have survived the trek and to be alive!

Indian Trail

For Pioneer Day (observed on Monday, July 25, rather than on Sunday the 24th), Brent led four of the children--David, Caroline, Christopher, and Spencer--on a 4.3 hike above Ogden Canyon. Spectacular views of the canyon and across the Great Salt Lake to Nevada.

Rebecca's Baptism

Rebecca Joy Belnap was baptized by her father, Brent, on Saturday, July 23, in the Ogden Forest Green Ward while the family was in Utah on vacation. She was so happy and touched to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Dinner Club at Central Park

For the final Dinner Club event of the 2010-2011 season, Lorinda (and Brent) hosted an evening picnic in Central Park. Great friends. Great food. Great fun.

Manhattan Temple Dinner at Sylvia's in Harlem

Brent and Lorinda enjoyed a wonderful evening at Sylvia's Restaurant in Harlem with Pres. and Sister Garff and other Manhattan Temple ordinance workers. At the end of the evening, Brent ran into long-time friend Van Woods (and son of THE Sylvia). A wonderful time!

Manhattan Temple Fireside

Brent with friends Blair and Sue Garff, President and Matron of the Manhattan New York Temple, on the seventh anniversary of the Temple's dedication.

Governor's Island Picnic

The family enjoyed the day on Governor's Island as part of the Church's annual United Nations ambassadors' picnic.

Last Baseball Game of the Season

David and Christopher played double headers on the last day of the 2011 season. Both games were played in Central Park. Their team, the Mets (yes, that was really their name), won one and lost one. Overall, they had a great season.

Blanchards' Farewell

Sidewalk Bake Sale

Spencer and Rebecca earned over $50 on their first sidewalk bake sale. Goodies included sugar cookies, caramel popcorn, Bundt cake slices, and chocolate chip cookies.

Spencer's Band Concert

Spencer had his first band concert at Wagner Middle School. He plays the trombone and did an outstanding job!

David Plays at Stake Street Fair

The Mormon Women Project: "Six In The City"

Lorinda is featured in "The Mormon Women Project" for May 11, 2011. To read her story, click here:

Mormon Women Project: "Six In The City"

David Earns His Eagle Scout Award

After earning the Personal Fitness merit badge at least 4(!) times (due to poor record-keeping), attending two Jamborees, completing a winter coat drive, and earning enough merit badges for two palms, David finally received his Eagle Scout award. He joins his father and one of his grandfathers in attaining this special rank earned by fewer than one percent of all Boy Scouts. "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers." Congratulations, David! (And thanks to the many, many Primary, Young Men, Cub, and Boy Scout leaders over the years who helped along the way!)

Easter 2011

Special Easter guests for 2011 included Yeah Samake, who is planning to run for the presidency of the nation of Mali, and Rob Walton, along Dave and Shelley Western and their son Emmet.

Amagansett 2011

Confucian Temple Poem for "Bai Yao Ming"

While in China on business, Brent stopped at the Confucian Temple in Nanjing where a Chinese "fortune poem" was composed for him, using his Chinese name of Bái Yào Míng (which roughly translates "White Dazzling Bright"; surnames in Chinese come first) as the opening line:

白耀明

(This name was bestowed on Brent by his first Chinese-language teacher, Debra Chou Robins, in 1986 while studying Mandarin at BYU.)

Commencing in the upper right hand corner, Brent's Chinese name appears horizontally. Like an acrostic, the poem continues vertically (from right to left, top to bottom) in 20 characters comprised of four stanzas of five characters each, with each line highlighting a trait or wish, beginning with each of his name's characters. The "last" character at the top (upper left corner) after Brent's name is the well-known good luck symbol of "fu," meaning "happiness."

A family friend, Chin-Li, has kindly provided a transliteration and translation of this 四句詩 (si ju shi = four-character poem), which is an example of a 箝字詩 (chien zi shi = condensed word poem), as follows (altered to read from left to right):

白龍傲大子 (Bai long ao da zi)
耀德展仁篇 (Yao de zhan ren pian)
明心似月亮 (Ming xin si yue liang)
福伴業興綿 (Fu ban ye xing mian)

This pure great dragon son
Spreads a page of his life with his dazzling virtue and goodness;
With a clear mind as bright or pure as the moon,
Good fortune and happiness will accompany prosperity forever.

There was another 白耀明 (Bai Yao Ming; same characters), who lived from 1893 to 1965. He was 回族 (Huí zú = of the minority Hui or Muslim ethnic group) in 雲南 (Yunnan Province). Educated in the law, he worked for many years for the Chinese government. He had a very good reputation and made great achievements in education and in the tea industry for the Hui minority people.   He passed away in Thailand. (The famous Chinese basketball player, Yao Ming (姚明), uses a different yet similar-sounding character for his surname of Yao.)

Cool.

"I'm a Young Woman, and I Believe!"

Caroline, along with several other Young Women from the stake, appeared (very briefly) in the video presentation, "I'm a Young Woman, and I Believe!" during the annual General Young Women meeting on March 23, 2011. The footage of Caroline was captured a year earlier near the front of the East 87th Street meetinghouse late one evening following a ward Young Women's event. Lovely!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1dqmBc-U74

Spencer the Handsome

London Photo Safari

Brent had a great time with friends on a late night "photo safari" while in London on business. Here's Brent at Trafalgar Square.

Bronx Science "Usual Suspects"

David on Bronx Science ultimate frisbee team.

Christmas Eve 2010