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

Alcatraz

We decided to tour Alcatraz Island, just off shore of San Francisco. It was once home to military forts, and is home of "The Rock", the infamous, but now abandoned prison where people such as Al Capone spent time.

First we had to wait, and wait, and wait for our ferry. People watching, bird watching, electronics, arm wrestling, napping, and even a bit of fighting may have happened at this table.

 Yay! Finally on the ferry! (Lander, Jake, Josh)

Lander looking back over the Bay Bridge as we cross the 1.5 mile stretch of San Francisco Bay to The Rock

Jake was fascinated by the stories told at Alacatraz. 

Jake, Dixie, Lander 

 Lander standing in front of a typical jail cell.

 Jake, Dixie and Lander feeling the sea breeze and looking over San Francisco

 The view of the Golden Gate Bridge from Alacatraz was beautiful. And look! No fog!

Sutters Mill & a some family history

We decided to visit Sutter's Mill, the place that started the gold rush to California. As the popular story goes, the superintendent, John Marshall found a nugget of gold as they built a saw mill.

Samantha, Jake, Lander, Urijah, and Grace stand at the monument that marks the site of John Sutter's original mill and the place that sparked the entire California gold rush. 

The visitor's center told the following story:

July 31, 1846

Aboard the ship, Brooklyn, 200 Mormon colonists lead by Sam Brannan arrive in Yerba Buena (San Francisco). This is one of three Mormon groups to come to California in the 1840's and 50's. With their large presence in the state Mormons will play an important part in many aspects of the Gold Rush.

August 28, 1847

James Marshall with a group of Indians and Mormons sets out from Sutter's Fort, Sacramento to Coloma to begin work on the sawmill. Over the 45 mile trip, they carry their tools and supplies in an ox cart and drive a flock of sheep for food.

January 1848

By now work on the sawmill was in full swing. The millworkers included former members of the Mormon Battalion, Indian laborers from Sutter's Fort, and Peter Wimmer with his wife, Jennie, who was the camp cook and their children.

The story continues with Marshall finding a sparkly rock as he inspected the mill. He reported taking it to Jennie Wimmer because she was the only person in the area who had seen gold in its natural state. She immediately recognized that it was gold, but was not believed, so she soaked the gold in lye overnight. She told the men that if it was gold, it would be there in the morning. It was, but they were still hesitant to believe her. Marshall then took the nugget to Sutter's Fort to have it officially tested. He later gave Jennie the original gold nugget as a thank you.

And the rest it history. Or is it? An article in an unidentified newspaper said the following about Dixie's (distant) relative, John Wimmer:

Boy Declared Finder at First Coast Gold

Danville, Cal. (UP) George Van Gordon, 90-year-old rancher and horse breeder, arises to say John Marhsll was not the first person to discover gold in California.

"It was a 10-year-old boy, John Wimmer," recalled Van Gordon. "His father worked for General John A. Sutter at Coloma. John gave the nugget he found to his father who gave it to John Marshall, who gave it to Mrs. Wimmer, and she boiled it in the soap kettle. I've heard the Wimmers tell this story many times."

Van Gordon perhaps knows. He came to California in 1846, remembers how everyone abandoned work and rushed to the gold fields. He remembers Lola Montez, the dancer; Joquin Murietta, most vengeful and dashing of American bandits, and the vigilantes.

Who will ever know? We surely won't, but it makes for a fun family story. 

Lander eagerly looks for gold in the American River at the exact site of the old mill

 Samantha, Lander and Grace walk along a trail next to the infamous site

Jake, Grace and Lander pan for gold at as part of a demonstration set up by the park

Eureka! Lander strikes gold and places it in a test tube.

Sacramento Temple

When Josh was a teen, he went to church at "The Mormon Center". The property had been a fitness center, until the church purchased the property and remodeled it. In 2001 plans were announced for a Sacramento temple and the Mormon Center site in Folsom was chosen.

Josh has a bit of history at the Mormon Center:

Josh completed his Eagle Project here, and made an awning next to the pool. 

Yes. Their church had a pool. How cool is that?

Josh lost several teeth and part of his jawbone on the Mormon Center property when he was playing a vigorous game of capture the flag as a youth. His tooth is still buried somewhere under this site to this day.

Josh gave his mission farewell and homecoming talks from the pulpit of the Mormon Center.

We knew that a trip to Folsom wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Sacramento temple so we planned a special baptism day with Eric and Beth's family. Grandma Nala supplied family names for us to do.

 Lander, Jake and Samantha in front of the Sacramento Temple

Jake, Dixie and Lander

Lander, Josh, Jake and Eric wait for the girls outside

Todd's Wedding & a Letter

First off, can I just say that this was a BUSY week? Here's a quick recap:

1. Have routine surgery
2. Give an impressive attempt at bleeding to death
3. Have a second, emergency surgery
4. Attend a wedding
5. Have (very low maintenance) house guests
6. Make a video

The Jamison boys: Josh, Jarrod, Mark, Todd, Eric and Kyle

 Grams, Aubrie, Todd

 the Jamison girls: Beth, Dixie, Aubrie, Shelly, Jenny

I wrote the following email to Josh's cousin, Cameron:

Cameron,

Thanks for the email! It's sure been a crazy week!! First my surgery, then Todd got married yesterday.

Wild times.

You asked about my surgery..I had some routine female-type surgery on Tuesday because I've been having a lot of female pain. The initial surgery went well...textbook, we thought, until I passed out after walking to the bathroom. 

Good times!

My blood pressure kept dropping throughout the day, until it got dangerously low (think 50-60s/30s). They had to give me blood and take me back to surgery to find the bleed. I lost a liter and a half of blood! (Depending on the source, it's estimated that we have about 5 liters total).

I felt pretty good after the first surgery, and pretty terrible after the second, but I think I am on the mend now. 

I have just felt so amazed at all of the little blessings this week. My body handled the blood loss so much better than it should have!

I literally laughed hard when I thought of your dance moves! Next time you find yourself in Idaho, it's a date!

Tell me how your family is doing. I feel so out of the loop!

Love,

Dixie

Jarrod and Shelly spent a few days at our house for the wedding. Shelly and I got silly and put together a little video about the Jamison boys:

Disc Golf at Freeman

Eric, Todd, Josh and Jarrod play a few holes at Freeman Park
and get a bit serious when it comes to losing a disc in a tree

Todd climbs a giant pine tree

Dixie tries (but fails) to die

A letter that I wrote to my dad after a routine surgery turned near disasterous

Mom,

My phone won't pull up dads email address, and I'm too tired to go get it downstairs. Will you forward this to him?

Thank you!

Well... I ended up hemorrhaging internally and I had to go in for an emergency second surgery to remove the blood and cauterize everything as you know.

I was too unstable initially for the second surgery, so I had to get blood transfusions before they could even take me back to the OR. 

We knew I was having problems fairly early on because I passed out in the bathroom (a first and hopefully last!) and came to with a room full of my very concerned coworkers. I never stopped breathing thankfully ( I've seen it happen..In fact that's how my rotator cuff was torn 4 years ago! I was really worried that the nurses would hurt themselves while helping me!) I was planning on going home 15 minutes later. The passing out and low blood pressure changed that in a hurry! I'm just glad that I had gotten my pants up before they came in! 

My blood pressure dropped dangerously low (62/47 and once somewhere around 55/35 at one point--most people are either unconscious at those numbers or seriously hard to wake up, but my body actually compensated fairly well, although it made my hands and feet numb, light headed (imagine that!), sweaty, and very nauseated. I could always tell when my pressures were dropping and got good enough to guess my BP fairly accurately. Blood pressures in the 70/40's don't feel too great either by the way! I was pretty level-headed during it all and very coherent (but a bit teary eyed too). So much so that the doctors thought I was having a reaction to pain meds at first. I spent most of the day with the head of my bed slanted down and feet up in the air to maintain blood flow to my brain. Being a nurse definitely helped so that I didn't panic. Being young-ish, healthy, and having great nurses and doctors might have just saved my life yesterday. 

I'm just so grateful that this happened before I went home. That could have been really bad. 

I had to have an emergency CT scan, and I've been poked all over with needles. I was given lots and lots of IV fluids, so I'm puffy and bruised, I get winded when I walk up the stairs now ( that will probably take a month to clear up ) and of course, I ended up staying overnight at the hospital. I really gave my coworkers and doctors a scare. In fact Dr Leavitt really flogged himself over my case. He is a great surgeon, and after 20 years, this was a first for him. I swear that nurses are the hardest / worst patients! I lost an estimated 1350-1500 ml of blood (to put It in perspective, a large pop bottle is 2000 ml, or an 8 ounce glass of water is 240 ml.) That's a lot of blood to lose.

Lucky me! :( but it could have been a lot worse. I am so thankful that my body was buffered by prayers and faith!

My neighbor had my kids over after school so that they would have fun, and not worry as much about me, since they expected me home. Shauna dropped everything and came to my house to watch the kids. (I haven't told them about my bleeding, so please be discreet if you tell anyone . I'm not sure if I'm going to tell them at all).

I stayed alert and conscious when I should have been unconscious and my body did an amazing job of trying to compensate (that's the nurse side of me talking). I KNOW that all of the prayers offered on my behalf acted as a buffer. I was able to have a blessing in the PACU thanks to josh and my anesthetist, and dr leavitt prayed with me before my first surgery.  (at first they thought my surgery was textbook perfect. Ha! Ha! Jokes on us I guess!) It's amazing to live in a place where priesthood holders are so readily available. Even my catholic friends offered prayers in my behalf.

As for now, I am home. Pretty exhausted, but comfortable. I had to go hours without much pain medicine yesterday because it was too dangerous to give me anything that would make my blood pressure go lower. My stomach is very swollen since the second surgery. When people have two surgeries in one day, the second one usually packs a whallop. And boy did it! It hit me so hard last night that I couldn't even shift my position in bed because of the pain, but I'm a lot better now. 

This was me "looking better" yesterday. My lips actually had a bit of pink to them here. Josh said that when my lips were the same color as my white pillow case, that I don't look so hot. I was getting two more IVs placed in this picture. You always know that nurses are worried when they put in 3 IVs...

Sorry to make this so long and crazy typos. (I'm totally drugged right now) but I wanted you to know first hand. I also need prayers for healing and gratitude to be offered up for me for the next few days.

Love you dad!
Dixie


Dixie right after her first surgery when she was feeling great. Guess joke was on her!