First Day of School

Summer officially ended and school begins. We aren't sure who is more excited, the boys or Dixie!

The feeling in the air was a toss up between Christmas morning and the Apocalypse.

-One boy was so nervous he thew up
-One bus never showed up
-One boy lost his locker combination

But, all three boys got their lunches packed, were up on time, participated in scripture study, finished their morning chores, left the house smiling and returned with even bigger smiles.

First days of 7th, 9th and 11th grades were a success! Christmas morning it is!

Lander, Jake and Alonso

Lander and Jake pose for the obligatory back to school photos.

At this point in their lives, they have learned to go with it.

It's just a fact of life, like gravity. And chores.  

  Jake, excited to begin his high school career!

Alonso wondered what American high school would be like and asked "is it like the movies?"

If the movies show homework, lockers, and lots of kids, then yes.

If the movies show BMW's, mean girls wearing designer clothes, and idiotic teachers, then no. At least not here.

Lander was so excited he couldn't help but do a few flips on his way to the bus stop. 

Mom thought about joining him too.

Martin Luther King Jr's words popped into Dixie's mind as she snapped this photo:

Free at last, 

Free at last, 

Thank God almighty

We are free at last!

Tortilla de Patatas

Alonso insisted that he wanted to eat only American food, but Dixie finally convinced him to let her try something Spanish. He requested tortilla de patatas, or potato tortillas. We learned that tortillas are made out of eggs in Spain and that they did not cook them with potatoes until after the conquistadors discovered them in the Andes mountains in the 1500s. 

Tortilla de patatas are basically an egg omelette filled with potatoes and onions fried in olive oil. They are a bit tricky because flipping the omelette is involved, but worth the effort. To eat them like a true Spaniard, one must top it with mayonaise. We all balked at this at first, but then tried it. Now we are all eating our eggs with mayo on top! It's THAT good. Seriously!

Our resident Spanish expert even gave Dixie's tortilla de patatas two thumbs up! Apparently she has a bit of the Spaniard in her. Now if it would just show up in her tan...

Tortilla de patatas

3-4 medium sized Yukon Gold potatoes, quartered and thinly sliced

Coarse sea salt

1 1/4 c olive oil

1 small onion, quartered and thinly sliced

6 large eggs

2 tbsp chicken broth

1. Heat olive oil in large, heavy skillet until very hot. Reduce heat and add the potatoes in thin layers. Sprinkle with salt. Cook stirring occasionally to prevent potatoes from sticking or browning, until they are half cooked, about 7 minutes. Stir in the onion. Reduce heat to low, and cook until potatoes are soft, about 15 more minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer potato mixture to a colander and set over a bowl to drain.

2. Place eggs, chicken broth and a couple pinches of salt into large mixing bowl. Beat eggs until just scrambled. Gently add potato mixture. Mash and stir the egg mixture. Let stand for 10 minutes.

3. Heat 5 tbsp of olive oil in a heavy 8-inch skillet. Add egg mixture. Reduce heat to medium low. Cook, moving and shaking the skillet so that the eggs do not stick. Run a thin spatula around edges of eggs, so that egg runs under the tortilla. Cook until the top is a little wet but not liquid, about 6-8 minutes. 

4. Place a large plate over the top of the skillet and gently invert the skillet so that the tortilla is sitting on the plate. Then slide the tortilla back into the skillet, so that the top of the tortilla is on the bottom. Reduce heat to very low and cook the tortilla until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, 3-4 minutes. 

5. Serve with mayo on top!

Arm Wrestling

Jamisons like to arm wrestle.  Lander looks forward to the day that he can beat his dad.

Of course, his dad is way too competitive to allow that.

But Lander still tries.
And tries.
And tries.

Alonso wanted his turn to try too and realized that Josh is pretty tough.

But Alonso was nice enough to let Lander win

Green Lakes Hike

"I never knew how wretched hiking could be or how nice Grandpa's horses are".

-Lander as we hiked the switch backs

Lander, Alonso, Jake and Josh pose in front of steep switch backs. 

This Spring we had planned a hike. It got pushed back, and back, until the end of August, which worked well because it allowed us to bring Alonso along! We decided to hike to Green Lakes in the Jedediah Smith Wilderness, just east of Tetonia, Idaho. 

Jake, Alonso, Lander and Dixie get ready for the hike

Less than a mile in and we already needed a break, except for Josh and Alonso. 

They are regular pack mules!

We had the lake all to ourselves, but were too tired to even really enjoy it! 

Or clean up camp...

 This lake was next to our camp. 

It was beautiful despite thick smoke in the air from wildfires in Oregon.

 Yoda (Lander) visited our camp, he did.

It took Jake a while to figure out the hiking thing. Or more specifically a fight with his mother. Anger is a good motivator when it comes to hiking a trail. By the time we hiked out, he had it figured out and was an excellent hiker.

Monster Trucks

In an attempt to expose Alonso to all things American, we decided to take the boys to a monster truck rally. The boys LOVED it, but wished that they had remembered to bring hearing protection!

Alonso, Jake and Lander

Welcome to Idaho!

August 15, 2015 is a date that we will always remember as the day that we officially met our new "son" Alonso and welcomed him to Idaho. Alonso is a foreign exchange student from Spain that will be living with our family for the entire school year. 

              the Jamison clan: Jake, Dixie, Lander, Josh and Alonso

Wait?!? When did you decide this? Are you crazy? What are you thinking?

We have been asked this many times since July when we decided to accept Alonso into our family. The answer has always been simple; faith and trust in the Lord!

It started one day while Dixie was working in the recovery room.

"Want to host a foreign exchange student?" Dixie's thoroughly groggy patient who had just awoke from surgery asked, a drugged young woman who works to coordinates placements for exchange students. 

While Dixie paused to say "No thanks!" she quickly flipped open her phone and pulled up a picture of Alonso. He was younger, even childlike in his picture.  He was cute and looked nice, but Dixie wasn't overly interested.

"Here, I think I have a picture of his family," she continued and scrolled to a picture of Alonso with his parents and sister. 

As soon as Dixie looked at Alonso's mother a pit formed in her stomach and she knew. He was supposed to come to our family. And it wasn't just Dixie. When Dixie got home and discussed this with the family, everyone knew. 

Update (8/31/15): It's interesting to see things come full circle. Alonso recently told some guests who were eating dinner at our house, "When Dixie speaks, if I am not looking at her, it's like I am hearing my own mother. She is 8000 miles away, but she and Dixie are so alike. They are sisters and exactly alike, even though they have not met!" No wonder Dixie felt such a bond with this mother in Spain!

Lander holds up a sign at the Jackson, Wyoming airport

 Alonso, happy to be meeting his new American family

 Alonso, Jake and Lander at the top of the Jackson pass

Walker Road Trail

We went on a walk in the Jedediah Smith forest, A.K.A. Dixie's favorite redwood stand. Of all the redwood forests we saw, this was by far the very, very best!

All of the Jamison boys and their families except for Todd

Ava, Drew, Lander and Jayden

Dayna, Dixie, Shelly, Jenny

One last day at the beach

We spent one last day at the beach, the glorious beach.  This time it was the beach between Battery Point and Point Saint George. We were told that weather would by crummy at best. Not for us! We have never had more perfect weather in our lives!

Grace and Lander