Conference Weekend and 2nd Annual Spring Gyoza Party

Conference weekend was wonderful, as always. We relaxed and listened to the prophet and apostles speak and on Sunday between sessions, we went on a walk around the Sawhill Ponds. 

It was a perfect spring day.

While we were at the ponds, we probably saw 10 gliders get pulled up from the airport into the sky. We were amazed at how many were going up and how high the planes took them. We couldn't see them after a few minutes of being towed because they were so high up.

We threw and skipped tons of rocks in the water, saw a big snake (maybe a bull snake? It was about 3 feet long),  saw many different kind of birds and spiders, heard lots of frogs, and saw lots of ant hills.

A glider!

Sam really liked watching the ants working around their huge ant hills.

Throwing rocks, of course!

After the last conference session on Sunday, we had a gyoza party with our great friends, the Jenkins, Parks, Jaspers, and Jacksons. We made about 60 turkey and 60 pork gyoza (Japanese pot-stickers), stir fry, and rice and then our friends brought side dishes and dessert. Everything was delicious! The gyoza turned out perfectly; for once, I seasoned them just right. 

Last year, we had a gyoza party for Easter so I think a gyoza party in the spring is a new tradition for us. Folding gyoza is such a laborious task making a party of it makes the folding easy and really fun.

L-A and Kelli watched the crazy kiddos while the rest of us folded and cooked.

Poor Laurie-Anne. Her leg got amputated by the sunshine and some trick of my camera. I laughed and laughed when I saw this picture. I love you, L-A!

Sam's favorite friends in the world - William, Adam, Evan, Josh, Elsie and William

Three pans at once. That's right - I'm that good! I think you can tell how sweaty I am in this picture. It was hot work at the stove.

Friends who fold together... Everyone had their own signature fold. Some people's methods proved to hold together more effectively than others. We won't mention any names.

Chaos and fun in the living room.

I picked this picture to post because I somehow managed to catch so many awkward faces at once. Russell looks about 30 pounds heavier than he really is and Neil - oh Neil. What is going on? And Kelli? The shoulder crunch. I think Evan is the only one who managed to look like himself. Funny.

Good thing it was warm enough outside that we could let the kids run wild. It was nice to enjoy our hard-earned meal in peace. :)

And by the end of the night, the kids looked like this.

Josh's mustache and black eye dirt face-painting makes me happy. What a great party!