THIS WILL BE THE BEDDING OF MY FUTURE DAUGHTER

Its called "Little Friends"
http://www.kukunest.com/bedding.php?theme=littlefriends

THE SECRET LIFE OF AN AMERICAN SCHOOL TEACHER

These are phrases that the civilian world has no idea can throw a teacher over the edge to suicide. Mind you these are just a FEW:

• What's my grade right now (remember I have 200 students so I obviously don't have all their grades scrolling through my head)
• My mom wants me to get an A
• What am I missing (the students get a print out of their grades everyday!!)
• Was I supposed to turn that in
• Is this for points
• Were we supposed to take notes on that
• Did we do anything important last time, I was gone
• What will this assignment do to my grade
• Are we doing anything important today
• Why do we have to learn this
• What can I do to pass this class (with literally 30 minutes left until term grades are due)
• This is boring
• I wasn't texting, I promise. I don't even have a phone (after some calm discussion they will finally bust their phone out of their pocket and hand it over)
• Wait, we can retake things in here (that has been the policy since August)
• Did you put in that assignment (seconds after they turned it in 3 weeks late so the answer is NO I haven't)
• I guessed on the test because I didn't study at all but I'm sure I aced it
• When does class get out
• Why do we have to take notes
• The countries in Asia - Europe, Middle East, any map we are working on - are too small
• This is too hard
  
• I am too tired to try and learn
• How can I get an A, I have an A- right now
• I didn't know we had a test today (then why did we spend last class period working on the review sheet??)
  

If you are a teacher and reading this, please tell me I am not the only one who gets crap like this EVERYDAY!!!!

RECLAMATION

And by reclamation you mean water reclamation?? Yes, I do. My brain got stuck on this topic when a) I went to Hoover Dam last week and b) Josh asked me if I hadn't grown up going to Lake Powell would I still love it.

Water reclamation history in the west is honestly one of my favorite things to study and read about. The "west" would not even be a thought without reclamation. This is good but mostly bad. As much as I love Lake Powell, I truly DO NOT believe in water reclamation. If John Wesley Powell knew that a man-made lake of stored up Colorado River water was named in his honor, he would be furious. If an area cannot naturally sustain itself, it shouldn't exist. This is the case for many western cities that guzzle water and electricity from dams in Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California. I took an entire course in college on the history of water reclamation and it was probably my favorite class of all time. Weird, right?

I know you all get more than enough crap from my blog, facebook, in person, at school, etc. about Breast Cancer, the great state of Utah, or BYU. But one love that you probably didn't know I have is water reclamation. It is very seriously a passion of mine - not as a Sierra-club-loving-lefty but as an historian who is awed by the fact that a simple thing like water can change the fate of everything.

Whew, I feel like you all know me a little bit better. Kind of in a weird way....

SENIOR CITIZEN

This was my day (granted I have been sick but it is still no excuse)

• Woke up naturally at 7:15 am
• Couldn't get back to bed so I did a little reading
• Fell back asleep until 9 am
• Showered
• Ran errands
• Went to the post office
• Shoveled snow
• Went out to dinner at Red Robin at 4:00pm!!! This truly means there is no escaping my burgeoning senior citizen ways
• In my pajamas and in bed at 7:30pm

WHAT YOU REALLY WANT, YOU MUST GET FOR YOURSELF

I love diamonds. Like a lot. It's high time I did something about it so I bought this little lady for myself. It came in the mail today and I am more than pleased. I LOVE it!

PRO TV

People who say things like, "oh I don't own a TV" or "I am not a TV watcher" really bother me. Don't think you are awesome for a) trying to get us to think TV is awful and b) lying about not watching it . I love TV and I love celeb gossip. And the best part is, watching all the shows I love makes me more interesting. I can keep up with any conversation about television along with discussions about, movies, religion, love, history, politics, etc. Watching TV hasn't made me dumb at all. I actually love it because I can catch those little hints of pop culture or history they throw in there. I will put it out in the world what shows I am willing to waste time watching. Here are my current shows in no particular order

1. Psych
2. Parks and Rec
3. Grey's Anatomy
4. Keeping Up With the Kardashians
5. 30 Rock
6. Anything HGTV/DIY
7. The Office
8. 16 and Pregnant/Teen Mom
9. Bachelor/Bachelorette/Bachelor Pad
10. Glee
11. Giuliana and Bill
12. Cougar Town
13. Lie to Me
14. Secret Life of the American Teenager
15. Modern Family
16. One Tree Hill
17. Parenthood
18. Oprah
19. Private Practice

WHY I AM AN AWESOME TEACHER

This is a student's essay and the question was about the Silk Road.

"I think the Silk Road was were they take bath in there and swim there wile there is dead bodies in it!"

I actually know what she thinks she is describing - the Ganges River and the Hindu rituals involving it. But NOT EVEN CLOSE to the Silk Road.

SUNDAY NIGHT BLUES

TRADITION!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all. Christmas time is full of traditions in the Belnap family. Here is a snippet of what I do this time of year.

1). Baking Day. This takes place a day or two before Christmas Eve. All the girls in our extended family get together and bake. All day. Our goal? Saffron Rolls!!! Saffron rolls are a traditional Swedish type of cinnamon roll that my great-grandmother brought with her from the motherland. Saffron is one of the most expensive spices in the world so we only make them once a year and every batch must go off without a hitch. Every year we make about 300 of these delectable rolls and I believe about 1/4 of them end up in my stomach. And props to my mom because we tease her about not being Swedish but she makes the meanest Saffron roll in town.

Oh so yummy, fresh out of the oven Saffron rolls

Grammy rolling out the dough, 2009

2). Christmas Eve: This is huge! I mean this is the biggest and most important day of the entire year in my family. This is the kind of tradition Tevye was singing about! On Christmas Eve we enjoy a fanciful Swedish Smorgasbord. If you can't tell yet, our Swedish roots really take over at Christmas. The table is filled with delicious food and decorated to the nines. The food is a combo of American, English (from Grammy), Swiss (from Uncle Jared), and Swedish (from Grandpa). Grandpa is usually the only one to really delve into the traditional foods like Lutfisk (gross fish). We start off the evening by a family dance to a Swedish song, Julpotpourri Over Langdanser - we call it the Nullie Ullie Anne. Grandpa always leads the dance. We go all over the house, circling a few times. Its my all time favorite part about Christmas Eve. After dancing we eat to our hearts desire. All the food that took days to prepare is gone in a matter of moments. Yum. After dinner we have a program led by Grammy and Grandpa. Then each of their children does a talent/number/song/etc. This little act can be serious or funny but mostly ends up being funny. Usually we have Jared yodel, Rose pretends to be sick but is still forced to sing "Here We Come a Wassailing" with Grammy, and then some caroling all around. When Grandpa Bennett was still alive he would always singe the 12 Days of Christmas because he brought that song to the U.S. Then we would exchange gifts and occasionally play the money game.

Smorgasbord table

English Trifle

Dancing the Nullie Ullie Anne


Dancing to start off the night

After attempting the Nullie Ullie Anne during a Christmas in Washington

Christmas Tree at Grammy's

Dressing baby Bennett up in St. Lucia's headdress

3. Christmas Day: Momma makes caramel-pull-aparts for breakfast because by this point we still haven't eaten enough. But really, this day isn't anything too special. With all the hoopla of Christmas Eve over, it's kind of depressing. Because I grew up on a compound we just visited the other cousins' houses and hung out. In the evening we go to a family movie. This year we had 23 of us at "True Grit."

Grandpa dressing up as Santa and visiting the houses

Babies on Christmas morning in Washington

President dressed up as Santa for a mission Christmas

Christmas PJ's with Santa/Grandpa

Christmas morning 2002, yes that was Joshie's hair at the time

4. Skiing. The Balmers condo at Deer Valley become the stomping grounds for the week after Christmas. We spend it skiing out hearts out. New Year's Eve is all about the Fondue and Roclet, Martineli's, skiing, sledding, and games galore.

Heading out for a Deer Valley day with cousins

Deer Valley with Jaim-ba

DV with the Swiss girls and dad passing out tickets as usual - none of us had ever done the ski ticket by ourselves until dad left us high and dry for the mission