My favorite recipes: Meet Jami Imler, Colfax

May 10, 20120

If you’ve followed Colfax sports, Palouse Empire Fair news or been a patient at Whitman Hospital and Medical Center, you’ve probably already heard of Jami Pierson Imler. The daughter of Jill and Robbie Pierson, she was born in 1976 and grew up on the family ranch at Hay and in Colfax. She has an older sister, Bobette. Her older brother, Chad, farms with Robbie, and their children and Jami’s enjoy family times together. Jami attended school in LaCrosse until they moved to Colfax at the start of her fifth grade year. Her mother worked at Jennings school and Robbie continued to farm.

Jami graduated from Colfax High in 1994 and from WSU with a BS in kinesiology. She worked for about six months after college in a physical therapy practice and decided to go to nursing school with the encouragement of her long-time friend, Melissa Moore Baerlocher, who is also a nurse.

Jami completed her AA degree and registered nurse certification at Walla Walla Community College in Clarkston in 2001 and began working at Whitman Hospital and Medical Center in June in the medical-surgical unit where she continues to work. Jami said that the nursing board exams were difficult and thorough. They are given on computer, and when the computer is done testing, it shuts off the test, which can be unnerving.

Jami said she found much more to learn after she started working as a nurse and is still learning all the time. She feels comfortable with her skills, but continues to be cautious. She double-checks medications, researches if she has questions and talks to her co-workers.

Also making 2001 a big year was her marriage to Tracy Imler. They met at the fair just as she was starting nursing school. She had decided that she wasn’t dating anyone while attending school, but changed her mind when she met Tracy. They married in December of 2001. Tracy farms for JBL Farms, so he works farmer’s hours. Jami drove semi truck to haul grain to the river for her dad and brother for many years. Getting a truck with air conditioning in 1996 may have helped extend her driving career.

Tracy and Jami have three daughters. Perry Marie will be nine in May and is in her first year of 4H. She entered steers in the Spokane Junior Livestock Show and plans to enter the Palouse Empire Fair this fall.

Delaney is seven and in first grade, and she will show her heifer Molly at the local fair. Ainslee is five and attends Steptoe Pre-school two days a week.

The Imlers live in a rural residence with about four acres at Colfax.

It was “the only one we agreed on and we could afford it,” Jami explained.

This gives them space for a horse and 4H projects. They have remodeled, redecorated and built since they moved in. They have built a barn for the horse and other animals.

When they visit the Pierson ranch, the children enjoy jumping on the trampoline in the barn, riding horses and bottle feeding calves.

Jami played soccer at LaCrosse through fourth grade. She showed horses at an early age and steers from fifth grade on. In high school, Jami excelled at basketball and volleyball. Spring and summer were busy with horses and steers.

Their girls are following that tradition. Perry played basketball for her first year, and she loved it. She tried softball last year.

Friends from childhood, Jami and Melissa Baerlocher now work together and their families play together.

Recipes:

Apple Crisp

6-8 apples (core, peel, slice)

1 box Jiffy yellow cake mix

1/2 cup sugar

cinnamon to flavor

1 cube melted butter

Core, peel and slice 6-8 apples in bottom of 9 x 13 pan. Next sprinkle with 1/2 c sugar and cinnamon to flavor. Then cover with dry yellow cake mix. Melt cube of butter and pour over the top. Bake at 350 degrees until apples are done, approximately 45 min. Enjoy!

Cheesy Potatoes

1 bag of hash browns(cubed or shredded)

1 -8oz tub sour cream

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

**mix all together**

top with corn flakes

Put mixture in 9x13 pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes covered, uncovered for last 15 minutes or until bubbling.

Taco pasta salad

1 package pasta

1 can olives

1 can kidney beans