The Boston Invasion: Day 2

BU--Boston University, not Baylor :)

Comm Ave


We took the T to the west end of BU on Thursday morning. It was fun because it was aboveground! Here I am on Comm Ave, the main street of BU that runs east-west.
































Marsh Chapel, one of my favorite buildings at BU! Cool, huh? The buildings on either side--the school of theology or something--are cool too. They almost look like one big church. Behind the Marsh Chapel is the BU Beach. Not a real beach, obviously, just a cute little park by the river (not right on the river--there's a road in between). We didn't take any pictures of the beach but there's this fun modern statue of a whale that doesn't look exactly like a whale (it is modern) but Kaci likes it and I kind of like it. Although Kaci said people make fun of it and I can see why.















Bay State Road

After exploring Comm Ave, we saw Nickerson Field, Kaci's old dorm by Nickerson Field, the wall nearby where Kaci and her friends climbed and jumped off into the snow (if you remember those pictures), and yes, the spot nearby where a plaque says Babe Ruth played. Oh yeah, and on the back wall of Nickerson Field there are big red letters that spell out Boston University and there's ivy growing between them. That was pretty--nice background for graduation. Too bad we couldn't go onto the field. We decided to walk back on Bay State Road, which is north of and parallel to Comm Ave (closer to the river). I have to say it's one of my favorite streets in Boston! It's so cute! Much quieter then Comm Ave and it was a gorgeous day. Most of the street is "brownstones," old houses built for wealthy families in the early 1900s when that neighborhood, the Back Bay, was the fashionable place to live. Then BU bought them and now they're mostly dorms.

This is The Castle, which used to be the BU president's house. In the 60s when there started to be riots on campus, the pres decided he didn't want to be that close. Now The Castle is used for administration and houses the BU pub on the side. Kaci proudly told me she'd been there. Heehee, just kidding. But she really has been there.
































As proclaimed by a cup in Kaci's little kitchen, the best girls are BU girls!


























Fenway Park!!! We swung over to Fenway since we were in the neighborhood. I wanted to see the wonderful famous glorious amazing place where the Sox won the World Series! There was a Go Red Sox sign in practically every window. It was great.


There's the famous Citgo sign. It's huge!

















Back on Bay State. Cute buildings, huh? Very similar to Beacon Hill and the South End. Kaci taught me an architectural term: rustification. It's a technique used in this style that gives the appearance of getting lighter as the building goes up. They do this by using stone on the bottom and bricks or lighter materials, and smaller windows, as you go up. I feel smart. :)


Cool door.












BU do what you do!

















Charles River









We went to say hello to the river. This is the Harvard Bridge, so called because it goes north to Harvard, aka the Mass Ave Bridge, so called because...well, you guessed it--it's on Massachusetts Avenue! This is the east side.

Other side. You can see the Citgo sign!












The North End
Then we went home. Our dogs were tired, as the Kaci & Tom would say. And Kaci's eye had been bugging her all day, so we took a nap and then Tom came home. (Harvard wasn't through with him yet--he was working hard on his final papers.) Kaci and I were going to walk around the North End, but she was too tired so I went by myself. Of course, it would have been way better with her there, and I didn't have long to explore, but I was glad I went. I didn't have long to explore because--well, Kace & Tom wanted me home in an hour and it took me longer to get there then it should have. They told me Hanover St was like the main street of the neighborhood and when I got to it I turned the wrong way--south instead of north. Not because I didn't know where I was, I just got distracted and started thinking about something else. But luckily the street ends pretty soon in that direction, so when I realized it had ended and found myself in Government Center, I went the right way. The North End is an Italian neighborhood, and about half of Hanover is restaurants. They were packed, especially the ones serving outside, because it was a beautiful evening. There were also a lot of people just milling around and looking in the pastry shops like I was. I ended up deciding against the pastries and getting gelato. It was so good. So I had a few minutes to sit and people-watch and then I would have loved to keep going but I didn't have time. So I just admired the cute buildings a second time on the way back (same basic style as what I had seen before). And it was nice even when I got out of the North End and there was nothing much to look at because I was passing Government Center, which is, well, nothing much to look at. I just liked the big city feel. There were tons of people out and it was great walking weather and I almost felt like I belonged there. Anyway, Kaci called me and wanted to meet at Whole Foods, which was conveniently on my way home. She wanted to make pad thai the next day. After staring at our options for a while, we decided we'd rather do homemade. So Kaci called Wendy to see if she would get a recipe from the Thai Kitchen website (their brand of choice). Wendy didn't know what pad thai was, so we called Julia and she saved the day for us.

The Boston Invasion: Day 1

Look out Boston--on May 17 Summer came to town!

















My first picture in Boston!







On Beacon Street in front of the Boston Common (not Commons, as Kaci and I would both like to point out).














On the same corner facing the other way. That pose is kinda weird--looks like I'm doing "I'm a little teapot."


The Boston Common
The Common covers almost 50 acres and is the oldest and most famous public park in the US, dating back to 1634. It was used as a "common pasture" for cattle grazing, hence the name. The redcoats camped there before the Revolution--it's from there they left for Lexington and Concord in April 1775. Public hangings were held in the Common until 1817 when the gallows were removed. Mary Dyer, the famous Quaker, was hanged there in 1660 (along with three other Quakers) because it was illegal for Quakers to be in Massachusetts and she refused to deny her faith. She is said to be the only woman in the US to die for religious freedom, and there's a statue of her in front of the Statehouse across the street from the Common. Pope John Paul II said some famous stuff there in 1979 when over 100,000 people came to hear him in the pouring rain (I think that was his first mass in the US). Martin Luther King Jr. (BU's most famous alumnus) also gave a famous speech there, and the start of the Freedom Trail is located there. In 1830 cattle grazing was forbidden and it became a city park. Cool, huh? There's also the Revolutionary War Memorial, the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, and a statue of William Ellery Channing, the early nineteenth century Unitarian minister famous for his belief in a loving God. I have to mention that he was born in Newport, RI (since I've been there--heehee). He graduated from Harvard and then spent most of the rest of his life (39 years) preaching at the Federal Street Church in Boston. He's famous for two sermons: "Unitarian Christianity," in which he rejected the Trinity, and "Likeness to God," about human potential. Although he considered them extreme, Channing influenced the Transcendentalists, and had two Transcendentalist nephews.











In the Common in front of the Massachusetts Statehouse. There were news vans lined up in front of it that day, and Kace said there often are. It makes her feel important.














On another corner of the Common. The sign says Est. 1634. Pretty old, huh?










In front of the fountain, and an Irish immigration protest or rally or something.


The Public Garden (again, singular)
The Garden was est. in 1837 as the first public botanical garden in the US. It used to be a swamp land, but now it's a beautifully landscaped 24-acre park with a 4-acre pond in the middle. There's also a sweet statue of George Washington on a horse, and of course the Make Way for Ducklings ducks. There were kids playing on them so we didn't take any pictures. The Garden and Common are the northernmost end of the "Emerald Necklace," a string of Boston parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.








I was sad that the tulips were dying but it was still very pretty.
































I like this one...



And this one because Kaci's in it! :)







The statue in the middle of the fountain is a cougar and an eagle--or something like that.




The swan boats on the lagoon.






The swan didn't want to pose with me.













It was raining leaves!

Rico is here!

My brother Forrest and sister-in-law Abbie welcomed baby Elijah Forrest White (aka Rico) at 1 am on May 11, 2006. He's a little guy at 6 lb 8 oz and 19 in. Go to http://forrestandabbie.blogspot.com/ to see more pictures. Isn't he a cutie?

Someone pinch me!

I'm so excited I can hardly type. I got a very special letter today--I feel like framing it. I had to have Mom read it and reread it myself before I realized it was for real. I'm still in shock. It says I've been selected to receive a $5,000 per year scholarship from the PepsiCo Foundation!!

Employee Evaluations--Not!

That's the title of the following list, which comes from Mom's Coppell Employees Newsletter.

The following were taken from actual employee evaluations:

1. Since my last report, this employee has reached rock bottom and shows signs of starting to dig.
2. His men would follow him anywhere, but only out of morbid curiosity.
3. Works well when under constant supervidion and cornered like a rat in a trap.
4. When he opens his mouth, it seems that this is only to change whichever foot was previously in there.
5. He would be out of his depth in a parking lot puddle.
6. He sets low personal standards and he consistently fails to achieve them.
7. This employee should go far--the sooner he starts, the better.
8. This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot.
9. Got into the gene pool when the lifeguard wasn't looking.
10. A photographic memory with the lens cover glued on.
11. One-celled organisms outscore him in I.Q. tests.
12. Donated his brain to science before he was quite finished using it.
13. The gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming.
14. This man has two brains; one is lost and the other is out looking for it.
15. If brains were taxed, he would get a rebate.
16. If you gave him a penny for his thoughts, you would get change back.
17. Some drink from the fountain knowledge; he gargled.
18. Was left on the Tilt-A-Whirl a bit too long as a baby.
19. This man has delusions of adequacy.
20. A gross ignoramus--144 times worse than an ordinary ignoramus.

An Earthquake hits Lewisville!...and other Johnny Weird dreams

In this episode of Laughing with Logan, our hero is temporarily flummoxed again, but this time seismologically.

The Professor was woken early this morning by what he thought was an earthquake. He said he remembered freaking out and thinking, "Oh, wow...I didn't know Lewisville was on a fault line...huh. I wonder if I should crawl under the bed for cover. I guess that was the primary wave. I wonder if there will be a destructive secondary wave...I should probably tell Mr. Harris (his science teacher) tomorrow at school." (As if he wouldn't notice an earthquake.) Then he fell asleep and when he got up two hours later he was still delusional until he saw the wet fence and realized it was thunder he heard.

In related news, I've had three seriously bizarre dreams lately. Maybe you'll get some amusement out of them.

Darth Vader attacks BYU I went to BYU for some kind of summer camp, kind of like last summer, but there were way more people, some that I recognized from our stake, and I had no idea what the purpose of the camp was. We were just talking and eating a picnic lunch around this big river, and then Darth Vader showed up and commenced throwing people into the river. As the sky turned black and people started screaming for help, he got madder and madder. Then the river became paved on the bottom and these little spotlight thingies appeared on the sides, so it was kind of like a Six Flags log ride without the log. Vader became Darth Gadget and when we tried to hide in dark spots in the water he'd spot us with his laser vision, grab us out of the water with his super stretchy arm, and throw us back in. My legs got very tired from treading water.

Anthony, Erdmanns, and the Death Star I was missing Anthony Warlow (the Australian singer) the other day and went to his website, so I guess that's what brought on this dream. I was at one of his concerts and having a great time dancing to his rock music (Kace, it was like the Marc Broussard concert). Then Anthony and I got teleported to the Erdmanns' house in Virginia, which was huge--one story but really long, on a huge lot with lots of pretty landscaping. But there were only like two hours of daylight every day and the Erdmanns would go out at night to look at the stars, but they warned me about the "death star," a shooting star that came out every night at the same time and that would kill anyone who looked at it (kind of like the basilisk in Harry Potter). Anthony took me inside and told me what a great friend I was, so I thought he was going to die, but someone else did. I can't remember who. Maybe it was the dog--a hairy little Pekinese, not a beagle.

The Lewisville 2nd Ward Farmerettes We were at mutual-- Mom, Sister Kemp (Mom's 1st counselor), the girls, and Mrs. Fields (the LHS drill team instructor). Sis. Kemp and Mrs. Fields were teaching the girls a new routine to perform at sacrament meeting. (Mom and I were watching.) They were practicing high kicks, and you know, Farmeretty stuff, everyone was happy, when suddenly Mrs. Fields looked down, her expression changed, and she said, "Oh, my father-in-law just died. I'm sorry, girls, I have to go to the funeral. Sister Kemp, you take it from here." I guess she had gotten a telepathic message and they were able to make arrangements to have the funeral 30 minutes after the man died. Then Sis. Kemp said, "Awww, poor Mrs. Fields. We should give her a gift basket to make her feel better. And it ended as she was trying to figure out how she'd cram all the girls in her car to get to the craft store. I kinda wish it had continued so I could see the girls perform their routine. :)

I thought I'd add that Logan just dreamed our house was huge. All he did was ride horses with his sister (don't know which one) on the beach--that's where the house was-- and the jungle and mountains that happened to be right there. Dad was Luke Skywalker and Mom was Princess Leia. I guess Logan and I must have Star Wars on the brain.

A Brown Birthday

I don't know why I didn't do this before, so I'll do it now! Tell you about the 5 Browns, that is. Mrs. Wells got us into a free recital at Steinway Hall a couple weeks ago and we all went. It was cool because the venue was very small and we were right up there next to them. They were signing posters and stuff afterward and Logan wanted to do that but the posters were gone by the time we got to them. So we got a copy of their new album for Logan and he had it autographed! He was jazzed about that. Then two days later I went to their concert at the Meyerson because DL had gotten tickets for my birthday (he got me their CD too). It was awesome. The first half was stuff with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. The DSO played an overture, then the three younger Browns played a Mozart concerto which was okay, then the two older Browns did a Poulenc concerto that I liked better. They were both very long. The second half of the concert was just piano stuff, all from their new CD, and they played like all my favorites! 3 of the pieces were all together and the boys did a duet and the girls did a trio. And Gregory played a short Jerry Lee Lewis type thing that wasn't on the program. It was very entertaining. During the concertos I was thinking, "Wow, they must've only had a couple days to put these together with the DSO because they got to Dallas Sunday night I think and 3 of them were recovering from being sick the day before, and they were at Steinway Hall on Monday night." Well, during their question-and-answer segment someone in the audience asked that and they said they had just met with the orchestra that afternoon! I thought that was pretty amazing. I was a little bummed about missing a way fun game night at mutual but afterward I was totally glad I went. And I ran into Andrew Smith and his girls.

In related news, Logan is now officially a Rhapsody in Blue addict as it reigns my iTunes Most Played list with 15 plays in the last week or so. I have to say I love it too. It's one of three Dr. Ku five-piano arrangements written by Jeffrey Shumway, piano professor at BYU (those are also the three they played at the concert). The other two are The Firebird and a Copland/Dvorak medley.

In other news, last night Mom and I went to Flower Mound HS for the LEF awards thing. I was hoping to meet my endower, Mrs. Elmo Brown, but she wasn't there (sorry, Molly).

Wendy said she was confused, so I guess I better tell you who the 5 Browns are. Sorry. :) They're LDS Juilliard-trained pianist siblings from Utah. (How many more adjectives could I have crammed in there?) The oldest two, Desirae, 27, and Deondra, 25, are graduated and married. The next two, Gregory, 23, and Melody, 22, are about to graduate--assuming they can pass with all the time they've missed. Ryan, 20, is the youngest. They were all born in Houston and moved to Utah when Desirae was ten. They all started piano lessons at age three. They started playing together and having music arranged for five pianos maybe a year ago?? Something like that. They have ten pianos in their Utah house, five together in the basement, loaned to them by Steinway, and five upstairs, each in a different room for their individual practicing--they're all Steinway grands. Can you imagine?? They practice about six hours a day, at least in the summer when they're all together and they can practice the five-piano music. But when they're on a crazy traveling schedule like they have been lately, they obviously can't do that much because they'll fly somewhere and play a concert that night or whatever. They released their first album, The 5 Browns, last year, and their second, No Boundaries, 3 weeks ago. They're on tour right now. They've done a lot of TV appearances and interviews lately to promote their new CD, including the Martha Stewart Show, which they played on three weeks ago. I didn't see it but Mom did. After they played Martha gave them tickets to see Coldplay, their favorite band and they flipped out. Gregory said it was one of the coolest concerts he's ever been to. Anyway, I'm not talking about Coldplay. I don't know where they went right after Dallas but they played at a General Mills convention in Phoenix on Tuesday (don't ask me why). Then the younger three went back to New York and the older two went home to Utah, where they played at the governor's mansion Wednesday night, along with Desirae's husband, who's a violinist. At the same time, Melody was playing her graduation recital in NY. They're headed to South Carolina next. The Browns are only six and a half years apart. They're cute, they're fun, they like each other, they love playing together, they have great clothes, they like to keep their concerts pretty casual and they're trying to reach young audiences and get them interested in classical music. That's all I know about them (some of it from reading their blog). As you can tell, I became an instant semi-fanatic after hearing them play because I didn't know anything about them before. :)

Logan's confused

In this episode of Laughing with Logan, our hero gets temporarily flummoxed (maybe the record heat we're having here is getting to him).

This morning when we were eating breakfast, he was talking about the 6th grade orientation thing he went to last summer. The teacher he was assigned to, Mr. Hall, has had all or most of us in his 7th grade science class. Logan said as soon as Mr. Hall saw his nametag he said, "Are you Kaci White's sister?" I said, "He said that?" And Logan said yes. At first I thought Logan said that on purpose to be funny or something. And I said, "No, really, are you sure that's what he said?" And Logan looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Yes! That's what he said!" So then I realized he didn't know what he was saying and I decided I'd see how long it took him to figure it out. I said, "So he said 'Are you Kaci White's sister?'"one word at a time. By this time Logan was getting frustrated. He assured me that's what he had said, but I told him I didn't think he was sure. Well then he really thought I'd lost 'em good. I said, "Logan, you're not Kaci White's sister." Then he was completely bewildered and looked at me like I was an alien or something. After thinking hard for a few seconds I saw the lightbulb go on. He smiled and said, "I'm Kaci Wickman's sister!" This was so not what I expected him to say that I busted out laughing. Logan still didn't get it. I told him he was Kaci's brother. Finally he realized and started laughing... and then called me a biffer. It actually went on longer than it does in this paragraph... it was so funny. I wish I had it on video.

Capoeira night

Last night I went to a capoeira class in Dallas. Capoeira (cahp-oh-aid-ah) is a Brazilian martial art that combines fighting, music, and dancing and originated from African slaves in Brazil. I went with my YW 1st counselor and her husband, who know it pretty well. While she was at BYU, Sister Kemp trained with an international group called CapuraGinga and the guy who's teaching this class, so she was very excited when he and his wife moved to Dallas and he decided to teach capoeira. After Sis. Kemp got married they convinced her husband to start doing it. The teacher and his wife are amazing. Everyone in a capoeira group gets a Portuguese nickname, and his is Furacao. It means hurricane, and he is one, let me tell ya. After the class he showed us a few sweet kicks, including a 720-degree one and one that almost hit the ceiling fan. I also mastered tambourine playing. It was a fun night! These are pictures of the group CapuraGinga playing in the roda (ring). Furacao is the guy in the second picture playing the stick thing and I think that's him flipping in the last picture. Recognize the building behind him? Yep, it's the Salt Lake temple.

My first scholarship!!

Yay! I got $500 from Mrs. Elmo Brown and the LISD Education Foundation. Thhhanks, Mrs. Elmo!

Logan's 2020 Prediction

As Logan and I were in the middle of our customary Sunday night talking-and-messing-around session, Mom was on the phone with Robby saying something about how she and Dad hadn't made plans for their cruise yet since so many upcoming things were up in the air. And Logan said, "Yeah, like Abbie's baby, and you going to college," and I said, "And Kaci's baby, and Wendy's baby, and Forrey's graduation, and Tommy's wedding..."
"And your baby, and Sharon's baby, and Abbie's other baby, and my baby!"
And I said, "You're having a baby?"
And Logan said, "No, my wife is, ding-dong!"
And I said, "You're married?!"
And he said, "Yeah! It's the year 2020."
Then Logan proceeded to give me the update on various family members, since apparently I was Rip van Winkle (emphasis on winkle). After two seconds I made him slow down and repeat what he'd already said so I could write it down because I knew it'd be funny. I never thought it would get to this point, but it's pretty funny so I decided to post it.

So without further ado, here's Logan's prediction for our family in 2020.

Robby & Sharon
3 more kids: Landon, Andrea, and Kevin.

Andra & David
2 more kids: Tyler (that's Pumpkin #3--Logan's convinced that Andra and I are wrong and it's a boy) and Sara

Tommy & Doris
2 kids: Cesar and Elina

Forrest & Abbie
7 kids: Rico (Forrey wouldn't hear of naming him Lincoln), Isaac, Lincoln (apparently he gave in), Lisaac, Incoln, Abygale, Abigayle

Wendy & Jon
2 more kids: Jonathan Jr. (goes by Jonathan, Logan wants to point out), Ava

Kaci & Tom
3 kids: Increase (that's a boy FYI), Kaci King White, Sheryle The Third

Summer & Christian
4 kids: Christian (goes by Chris), Jeff, Meredith, Rosalee
Summer married Christian as a sophomore. (Thanks a lot, Logan.)

Logan & Brittany (not the one he goes to school with now, he is quick to point out)
2 kids: Laura and Emily (Logan mentioned that Emily's popularity dropped from 3 to 300 in the 5 years before she was born, 2013-2018. Does that make it a better name choice? I don't know. That's just what he said.)
Logan served his mission in Nauru, a tiny Pacific island country. Although he had already learned the language, Nauruan, his mission president sent him back to the Provo MTC to learn French and Mandarin. Logan went back to Nauru and finished his mission, teaching the huge French and Chinese populations there.
He met Brittany at BYU, where he got a Master's in accounting. He's been a manager for KPMG ever since.