Teacher Appreciation Night

As you can see, last night was a special night at Stanford Stadium for educators. About a month ago, Bay Area teachers could register online for 4 free tickets to the Stanford / Wake Forest football game. One drawback was the 8:15pm start time thanks to the national broadcast on ESPN. But the tickets were free and I have a unique connection to Stanford with a family from the school I teach at. So my brother Casey and I planned on going. We each brought a friend from the wards we attend. He brought his friend Alberto who I first met at Madelin's birthday party. I brought along my friend Dan and his son, Tyler. Dan's on the high council in our stake and his son Tyler is a student at the school where I teach.

The weather yesterday morning was grey and wet. I was thinking we'd be in for a drizzle but when we arrived in Palo Alto the weather was quite pleasant actually. It was dark by kick-off, but very pleasant. Stanford was dressed in black, surprisingly. Maybe it had something to do with playing at night. Who knows?

Here's a shot of Dan and Tyler. I mentioned that Tyler is a student at the school where I teach and that there's another connection to Stanford. A good friend Gale is the director of concessions at Stanford univeristy and she was kind enough to treat my mom, my brother-in-law and nephew and I at last year's Big Game when we went to Stanford.

Last Thursday Gale dropped off season ticket parking passes at my classroom and last night had us find whatever we wanted to eat and drink during the game and treated us. The garlic fries and hot links and cheeseburgers and all the refreshing beverages were delicious! That was very cool and generous and thoughtful of Gale!

Here's a shot of Alberto who, coincidentally, was attending his very first "American" football game. He seemed to have a great time and enjoyed the first class hospitality. I was glad Alberto could join us.

I bumped into another school family on the way out of the stadium last night. The boy to my left is Nick and the girl to my right is Keilani. That's Keilani's dad to her right. They were on hand selling food and drinks for their soccer team. Anyhow, it was a real treat to bump into them. Both Nick and Keilani are long gone from elementary school, but it definitely means a lot to still have such wonderful friends, like the gang I was hanging out with last night that means a great deal to me.

All in all, we had an excellent - albeit very late - evening at the Stanford football game. By the way, they demolished Wake Forest!