Excitement!

What a busy week it has been! Grandma and Grandpa arrived Monday afternoon and I knew exactly what to do with them that night. We came back here and they got to experience the lovely Nelson cuisine. It's kind of funny because they pay for my tuition, room, and board so they really paid for their own meals in the dining hall in an indirect sort of way. Anyways, after we ate we went over to the HRTM (hotel, restaurant, tourism management) school. Daniel and a few of the other RAs were putting on a cooking class program for the residents. Some of the HRTM students were teaching us how to make a complete dinner. We had chicken, roasted vegetables, salad, and cookies. Grandma loves to cook so she had a great time. Grandpa enjoyed looking around and meeting my friends too. It was a great way for them to meet a lot of the other RAs and we had a delicious meal at the end. We also took that opportunity to show them our rooms and around our residence hall a little bit.

The next morning I got my shift covered so I could spend time with them instead of sit at the desk. Daniel and I picked them up at 10am and drove around the neighborhood we are hoping to buy a house in. They agreed that it was a very nice neighborhood. It did seem a little far, but that's probably because we were driving from their hotel instead of from campus itself. Then Daniel dropped us off on the North side of campus and I gave them a little tour as we walked to the south side. It was a lot to fit in just a morning, but we made it across campus in about an hour. It's hard for Grandpa to walk that much, but he did pretty well. He seemed to really like that there are free newspapers everywhere. I realized at one point that he had disappeared and I found him a ways back stopped in front of the newspaper vending machine. So I stuck my ID in and got him a USA today. He was even more excited when we told him he could have one of our Wall Street Journals that gets delivered to Nelson each day. Grandpa is so funny. So we met Daniel back at Nelson and this time they got to try Nagel's food for lunch. After lunch we walked over to the very south side of campus and showed them the science buildings and the music building, Newman. Newman is our favorite building on campus so I was really excited to show them. They were definitely impressed. Daniel played a solo for them that he is performing on Friday and I sight read the accompaniment. It was fun and Grandma and Grandpa asked lots of questions about the tuba and Daniel's classes and all. After that Daniel and I had class, so we took them back to their hotel. I think they were ready for a nap and a rest after all of that walking. I had choir rehearsal from 4-6, but luckily Daniel didn't have wind ensemble that day. So he went and picked them up around 5 and they got to hear the end of our rehearsal. So even though they couldn't be here for Daniel's performance or my choir concert, they got to hear us both! It was so perfect :-) Then we drove downtown and had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, P.F. Chang's. We showed them around LoDo, Larimar Square, and 16th street. We also parked and walked into the Denver Center for Performing Arts which they loved. We love it too. I really wanted to show them places that Daniel and I like to go a lot.

When we got home that night, Daniel had to go straight to staff meeting. I was looking forward to relaxing for a half hour before I had to register for next quarter. There was a class that I really wanted to get into, but it was filling up fast. I kept checking and it was full before I even had a chance to register. Once I got up to our room, I remembered that we were supposed to do mail and we never did. So at 9:15 I went downstairs to work on the mail. I stopped halfway through to register and figure out what classes I'm going to take. By the time I finished, Daniel was done with his staff meeting. Then I remembered that I had a huge chemistry test the next morning. So I went upstairs and studied for another hour. It was a very exhausting day, but definitely worth it.

Wednesday morning I woke up early so I could get a little studying in and get to the test early. It's a good thing I did because it took me (and everyone else) the entire 55 minutes to take it. It's never a good sign when the proctor says "times up" and you have to turn in the test no matter how much you've finished. Luckily I was on the bonus question when he said that. So I didn't have time to go over it, but I did have time to finish. I had psychology (which I totally fell asleep in) and then chem lab. I thought chem lab would never end. We had to wait for our water to boil and it took forever. But I got out of lab around 4:15 and we were supposed to go meet Grandma and Grandpa at 5pm for dinner. They had spent all day with Grandma's cousin Eric. They visited his mother (Grandma's aunt Ruth and my Great-Grandma's sister) and his sister (Grandma's other cousin, Jane). Jane had actually called me in the fall because she knew that I lived here and she was going to have me and Daniel over for dinner. Unfortunately her health has not been good. She was just diagnosed with meningial tuberculosis confined to the lining of the central nervous system. It's symptoms are like a stroke. She can't walk or really talk and sometimes she's very confused. Grandma told me that they both were doing well yesterday. Ruth (Jane and Eric's mother) is in her 90s so she lives in a elderly care home and she knew who both of them were and seemed to be very alert. Jame is still in the hospital. Eventually, she will be moved to a long-term care facility as well so Eric has been cleaning out her condo.

He found some old dishes that belonged to their grandmother (my great-great-grandmother- my mother's mother's mother's mother). They are Haviland China from France. She had earned coupons from the local grocery store and turned them in for China dishes almost 100 years ago. She has the complete 12-person set with serving dishes and all. He offered to give them to me so that they would stay in the family. So he brought one dish to show us the pattern and they are just gorgeous! I can't believe I get to inherit these beautiful antique porcelain dishes. Grandma told me that the mark of good porcelain is that if you hold it up to the light you can see through it. Well Eric told us that the tea cups that are with the set are like eggshell. I can't wait to put them in our new house! He also brought us some sterling silver teaspoons and forks that belonged to his grandmother. The teaspoons have beautiful edging on the bottom and the inside of the bowl on the spoon is very unique. It has lines that make it not perfectly smooth and spherical but sectioned off like the sides of an octagon or something. It's hard to explain. On the back of the spoons is engraved in really fancy font MB for Marianne Bentee, her maiden name. So she got the spoons before she was even married. And she was married before 1900! Her married name was Marianne Erkie. He also told us that her husband was named something, August August Erkie. Two middle names of August. They named him that because they had two wealthy relatives named August and they wanted to make sure they got inheritance from both of them. Well, they never got a cent from either one. But it's a funny story anyways. So once we have the house ready, we're going to call Eric and arrange to get the dishes. Daniel and I were thinking maybe we'll have the whole family over to our place and cook Thanksgiving and serve it on our antique china dishes.

So all 5 of us went out to this pizza place for dinner. It was great to hear these old stories and learn about some of my ancestors. After dinner Eric went home and the four of us went to Bonnie Brae for some ice cream. I tried to give them the true Denver experience. I didn't want to leave that night because I know it's going to be such a long time before I see them again. My grandparents are probably my favorite people on the planet. They never do anything selfish, they still hold hands after 55 years of marriage, they never speak harshly to each other or anyone, and always are encouraging and loving to my entire family and Daniel too. I definitely aspire to be like them. I miss them so much when I'm away at school. But just as Grandpa says, it makes me appreciate when I'm with them more.

Now I get to look forward to Robert and Evan coming! They will be here tomorrow morning and I am so excited. On Saturday we are spending all day looking at houses and hopefully by the end of the day we will be ready to put in an offer. Then on Sunday is my choir concert. Normally I wouldn't be too excited about it, but I actually have family here to watch me! And I'm also looking forward to going to church. It's always a peaceful and calming experience for me. It reminds me of my childhood and family.

Oh and last night I got my financial aid package for next year. They are offering me almost $8,000 more than last year which brings the total to close to $25,000 in financial aid. About $6,000 of that is loans, but it's still close to $20,000 of scholarships. So with a tuition of $35,000 that means they are only spending $15,000 a year for tuition. Of course they are paying for my rent and all, but I am thrilled that I got so much more financial aid for next year. I haven't had a chance to tell Grandma and Grandpa, but I know they'll be happy too.

Besides all this excitement, I have a lot of homework to do. I have a big paper due Monday and I need to start preparing for finals. But right now I'm willing to push that all aside for a little while and just enjoy having family here :-)