A thief, some crafts, and one heck of a Christmas party...

First things first. I know these pictures are a few weeks old but I thought it was still funny. One Saturday while Jayson was studying he looked out our patio window and caught a thief in the act... a squirrel was ripping apart our pumpkin and stealing our pumpkin seeds! Jayson said as soon as he looked at the squirrel, the squirrel looked back at him and froze. The little sucker knew he was in trouble. I don't know what it is about Nebraska but these dang squirrels are everywhere. They don't seem to be too bothered by people either, seeing as they climb on our planters and steal our pumpkins.

(I know this picture is a little dramatic.. but what can you do?)

Onto the crafts. I have finally finished my quilt that I started a few months ago. It turned out really cute and I absolutely love it!
My friend taught a few of us how to knit so I am now in the process of making my very first scarf! It has been a fun project to work on, especially since the past few weeks I have only seen Jayson for 20 minutes out of the day. So I turn on AMC (the old movie channel) and knit. I know, I know, it is a little grandma"ish" but it's pretty addicting.

Jayson and I finally visited the pedestrian bridge that connects Nebraska and Iowa. The bridge is right off downtown Omaha and goes over the Missouri River to a little residential area in Iowa. We went in the evening and it was such a pretty view of the city lights. It was a fun walk too, but a little chilly. We are starting to understand what they mean when they say "Nebraksa winters". There is hardly any snow, but it is freaking freezing. Tomorrow there is a high of 12 degrees and with the wind chill it will feel like -25!!! Are you kidding me?



The 10 Utah students (RDEP) that we came out with decided to have an "Ugly Christmas Sweater" party last night. I went shopping with 3 of the girls to the Salvation Army to find ugly sweaters. The selection was pretty slim but we did find some beauties....4 matching red and black Christmas dresses. We immediately thought of SNL and the Lawrence Welk show and had to get them! We did our best to represent the sisters and showed up to the party decked out! The party was really fun, everyone brought appetizers and desserts and we did white elephant gifts and played the name game (Jen-they had a fun twist that we will have to try sometime). The white elephants were great. Ranging from a signed speedo shot of one of the boys, an ancient brown lamp, xxx large panties, and some other interesting creations. Some of the boys tried to grow some "Christmas cheer" (aka facial hair) for the party.










Andy's Christmas cheer




Aaron and his sweater that he borrowed from Scott Hamilton (the ice skater)




Some of the girls (we had a few leave early)




Some of the guys




Our family portrait

(those of you who know the Clarks- Jayson claims that I look alarmingly similar to his Aunt Margie dressed like this)

That's it for now folks. We are headed to Utah this week and are so excited to spend time with family and friends.
Merry Christmas!!!