Potato Pancakes and Pumpkins

I grew up in Idaho where we grow a lot of potatoes.  In fact we would have two weeks off during the school year for potato harvest each year- it was awesome.  My Uncle Blaine raised potatoes and he would let us come and glean the potatoes from the field that the crossover  missed. I remember driving our brown station wagon into the field and filling as many potato sacks as we could fit into the back.- Needless to say we ate a lot of potatoes and in lots of different ways- mashed, baked, fried, in  potato salad, french fries... and every once in a while mom would make potato pancakes.  She didn't make them very often as they are a little labor intensive when you are trying to make them for a family of 9, but we loved it when she did

Mom came for a visit this weekend and as we were going through recipes for a family cookbook I am working on we came across the potato pancake recipe.  It has been a really long time since I have had them so I asked mom to make them for us. (I know she comes to my house to visit and I make her cook- what a rotten daughter I am).  They were as good as I remember.

 Olivia thought it was so much fun to help because you get to stir the batter with your hands... grandma's little sous chef.

On Saturday we went to the Red Barn in Santiquin for a hayride, to pick pumpkins and for pumpkin ice cream (Liv's choice).   Liv liked the hayride and driving the old tractor, but was indifferent about picking a pumpkin. Little Nate wasn't sure to think, but was a good sport about the whole adventure.