Cancer Perk

Thanks to Kean having cancer doesn't sound quite right.

So I'll say... because Kean has cancer, we've had some

opportunities as a family we'd never have had otherwise.

Case in point, we were invited (with several other cancer families)

for a special afternoon with the Boise State football team.

Byron had to work, so my mom went in his place to help me

wrangle the kids.

 And wow, were we ever spoiled.

We started out with the Assistant Athletic Director in the "film room".

He told us all about the program (did you know BSU has

 won more games than any other team in the country since 2002?

And did you know BSU players are second in the country for academic gpa?).

We even got to watch two short videos about some neat things they do 

as a team.  Kean loved the videos and was clapping wildly at the end of

each one.

 We were then taken on a tour of the entire facility--

and trust me, it is quite impressive.

We started with the cavernous weight training and work out rooms.

 The trainers were there to answer questions and show the kids around.

 We saw where they get massages, physical therapy,

and even the shower room.

Kean was wandering around telling everyone "hi" that he met.

He was a maniac.

But a cute maniac.

 The locker room totally surprised me.

It was really nice and neat.

And get this--- NOT smelly.

They have some fancy ventilation system that sucks air

in and around each locker-- the place smelled great!

Not even a tinge of sweat.

We were so excited to find a locker of a player

named Kevin Keane.

 And guess who we ran into during their scrimmage?

Mr. Keane himself.

He's the "long snapper" and about the nicest guy you'd 

ever want to meet.

 In fact, after the scrimmage, he came over to find his

new little buddy, Kean-- just to give him a fist bump.

 The girls got a trillion autographs.

I was floored at how kind and friendly the boys were.

Kean, my mom and I were just standing off to the side

and we had so many players and coaches come over,

introduce themselves and talk to us.

Some even asked to have their picture taken with Kean

on their phones.

This guy is named Brennyn Dunn.  I had to look him up-- he's a Tight End.
He made out night by coming up to us and remembering our crazy family!
 We had met him last February at the Boise State Dance

Marathon to raise money for St. Luke's.  

The team came out to support the event and Brennan

had swing danced with Reese quite a bit (tossing her up and around).

 He was so cute again with Reese and made her promise

to save him a dance at the next Dance Marathon!

All of these guys were just darling with the kids.

 Finally, we met the head coach, Bryan Harsin and no surprise

here-- he was as gentle and kind as his players.

He totally got into giving Kean fist bumps and high fives.

I think this team earned some life long fans this evening.

We had a great night.