Valentine's Day

I've been meaning to post about our Valentine's Day for a few days now, but the past week has been so exhausting and last Monday I started to get a sore throat.  So, here I am now, just posting about Valentine's Day!

Chad and I started a tradition to cook chicken and mushroom fettucine alfredo for our Valentine's meal and continued with that this year.  After our Valentine's weekend in Jackson, we decided that on actual Valentine's Day, we would stay in and continue this tradition and just enjoy being at home together.  When I got home from school Monday, Chad was still at work, but had come home on his lunch break (lucky!) and fixed our table for dinner, complete with flowers and candles!  It looked great!  He came home a little early (again, lucky!) and we decided that we would skip the gym today and just go for a walk outside because the weather was so beautiful, spring-like!  So, we went for a long walk then came back and began cooking our dinner.  We cooked the pasta, made the salad, and cooked French bread, using many of our serving pieces we received as wedding gifts.  We were so stuffed after dinner that we decided to open gifts.  Remember, Chad had already gotten two of his four gifts so he opened the last two after dinner.  I gave Chad Vineyard Vines shirts, a Vineyard Vines belt, and a book.  I bought him the wrong book though so we have to swap that!  Oops!  Even though Chad took me to Jackson shopping, where I found lots of spring clothes and gave me flowers, he still ordered me a pair of Tory Burch flip flops!  I was so excited!  Now, I just need a pedicure one day soon so I can start wearing them! 

We debated which movie to watch for a little bit.  We couldn't decide between You've Got Mail and The American President.  The American President won.  About halfway in, we decided it was time for our dessert, so we paused the movie and set up our ice cream sundae bar, complete with chocolate and caramel syrup, sprinkles for me and cherries for Chad.  We made delicious sundaes and ate them while we finished The American President.  It was fun and relaxing just to hang out at home and put everything else aside and just be together for Valentine's.

Valentine's Weekend

Happy Valentine's Day!

Isn't fun to celebrate holidays?!  I LOVE it!  Chad and I kicked off Valentine's weekend by heading to Jackson (MS) Friday when I got off work.  He planned the entire weekend for me, and let me tell you, he did GOOD!  He didn't tell me where we were going until early in the week and still didn't tell me all of the plans until later in the week.  We got to Jackson right at dinner time and went to dinner at Bonsai, a Japanese steakhouse.  Chad and I love hibachi grills so this was perfect.  Bonsai was awesome.  It had the same great food as a regular steakhouse, but you got TONS more food!  I think the rice amount was doubled and I got around 16 shrimp!  It was delicious.  I could not even come close to eating all of it.  It makes you feel guilty about leaving those delicious shrimp though, but Chad took one for the team and finished them off for me.  He left more rice than I did, which could be my favorite part of the entire meal.  After dinner, we did a little shopping.  The weather was great so we just parked and walked around the outdoor mall in Flowood.  We closed the mall and headed to our hotel for the night to rest up for Saturday.

Like I said earlier, Chad did good, so he left all of Saturday open for me to go shopping!  We got up and got going to be at stores really when they opened because there were so many places to go.  The weather was gorgeous so we parked once again, this time at the Renaissance at Colony Park, and walked around.  It was a perfect day to be outside walking around... and shopping!  I am already in spring mode, so finding spring clothes made my spring fever even higher.  We love Five Guys so we took a lunch break there, which had a line out the door by the time we left.  Everywhere was packed because the weather was just so great.  We spent the afternoon at the Renaissance before heading back to Flowood to finish our shopping and make a quick and painless stop at Marble Slab for some ice cream cones.  The ice cream was delicious, but who knew that only one person was working and it would take close to 40 minutes.  After finishing our ice cream cones and a little people watching, we headed back to Starkville. 

We finished our Valentine's weekend with a fashion show of my new clothes, popping some popcorn, and watching a movie.  Oh, and I forgot, Chad opened present 1 of his V-day presents!  He opened one Saturday, one today, and will open his last two presents tomorrow!  The good news is, as much fun as we already had celebrating, we still have VALENTINE'S DAY tomorrow!  This was just the beginning!  Stay tuned to read about our Valentine's Day!

Life As We Know It

Well, not too much is going on in the life of the Hammontrees down here in Starkville.  We are just staying in our routine and looking forward to warmer weather.  It's the time of year now, where I quit wearing coats thinking that will make the weather automatically warmer... it's a mind thing, right?! 

Our days pretty much follow suite every day, I get up early while Chad continues to sleep and then right before I leave, Chad gets up and makes my lunch for me.  Every day!  This is awesome.  I hate making my lunch and always have; I'm not sure why, it doesn't take much time and I pack the same thing every day... turkey sandwich on wheat bread, a pack of 100 calorie cookies and 100 calorie chips and water.  Never changes.  But, luckily for me, Chad does do this every day!  Today, there was a nice surprise in my lunchbox though!  Chad wrote me a note saying he loved me and hoped that I had a great day.  My students were quite impressed with this as I exclaimed happily and shared my surprise.  I try to tell the boys these things so maybe one day they will turn into gentlemen, along with chewing with their mouths closed, holding over their trays while they eat, not drinking all of their milk in one sip, etc.  This is what we call... Mrs. Hammontrees Etiquette lessons at lunch.  Who knows if they are really listening to me or not!  After school our routine continues.  I am usually home before Chad so I will start dinner and then clean, start laundry, or read for a few minutes until Chad gets home.  I don't really "sit" well, so I am always on the go doing something.  After dinner we just hang out and talk about our day, maybe watch an episode or four of The Office until time for the gym.  We love going to the gym together and try to every day with the exceptions of Wednesdays.  Wednesdays I don't get home until late and then it is almost time to leave for church so gym time does not really fit in then.

This weekend was wonderful!  I was out of school Friday due to weather so Chad and I slept in and made some heart healthy pancakes and boiled eggs for breakfast.  It was great!  The night before we had a feeling I would be out of school so we ran to Red Box and rented three movies just in case I was out Friday.  We watched one Thursday night and saved the other two for Friday.  After breakfast, we read for a little while and then watched a movie.  We went to the gym that afternoon and then came back to relax some more.  We ate lunch around 4 and then read for the afternoon before starting another movie Friday night and ate oatmeal around 8 for our dinner.  We had a very lazy and relaxing day and loved being able to go to the gym in the afternoon instead of at night.  Saturday, we slept in and then went to Tuscaloosa for the day.  We were in the mood for a little Chick Fil A, Outback, Target, TCBY, Barnes and Noble and much more so we headed out Saturday morning.  We spent the entire day in Tuscaloosa and had so much fun!  Chad and I love taking trips, even day trips, just to get out and about together.  Sunday, we got back in our routine and went to church, La Terraza for lunch and then spent the afternoon making football shaped sandwiches and cookies for the church Superbowl gathering after church.  We had a blast this weekend and are looking forward to our Valentine's Weekend Getaway this weekend!  Chad is planning it all so check back soon!

I am ready for spring so I thought if I posted a picture of us in West Palm Beach last spring, spring might hurry up and get here! :)  Isn't that how it works?

Bittersweet

As many of you know, my sister, Tracy, and I have been trying to sell our house the past few months and the market has been moving slowly.  We loved our house and it was a great house for the three years that we lived there.  Tracy has lived there a little longer though because I got a job in Starkville in August.  We recently received some GOOD NEWS though!  We now have a contract on our house and are supposed to close the end of February!  We are praying that everything goes smoothly and this contract works out.  As much as we hated to sell the house, we have to for all of us.  Chad and I will be happy to stop paying some on the mortgage and Tracy will be thrilled not to pay as much as she has been paying since we Chad and I got married.  I know my parents will be ecstatic not to have to do our yardwork along with theirs!  As far as that goes, it's a win-win for everyone!

Chad and I went to Memphis over the weekend to help sort through everything in the house.  As much "stuff" as we have down here, there was still plenty more in Memphis too!   It seems as if every time we make a trip to Memphis, we bring a carload back with us!  After several trips of unloading last night, we think the majority of my things are now down here.  I have spent the day unboxing and organizing.  It's amazing how much fits into an apartment and how creative you can get organizing it all! 

This is a bittersweet time because we loved the house, but we are so excited to have a contract on it.  That is why it wasn't quite as sad as I would have expected.  The sadness may hit later though once it really is not longer our house.  On the upside of down, we all had another great weekend with family and loved being back in Memphis.  The weather was gorgeous and I now officially have spring fever.  It was a last minute trip and a very fast trip so we did not get to see everyone that we would have liked to have seen.  We spent a lot of time bubblewrapping, taping, sorting through things, and boxing it all up.  We did mangage to squeeze some Target time in, a tiny bit of shopping, and of course, we never missed a meal either!

Reverend Chad Hammontree

Well, now that you are all caught up in "the story of us", we will fast forward to the recent happenings in our life.  This past weekend, Chad's parents and my parents came to town for Chad's Ordination.  They all got here at almost exactly the same time Saturday.  Chad and I had been looking forward to this weekend for a few weeks now and were so excited that we could all be together because it was the first time since our wedding that we could all be in the same place.  We had a wonderful time Saturday night going out to dinner at Harvey's and then back to watch the Memphis basketball game.  It was an intense game!!  Our den was quite a sight at all of us sitting around watching the game.  By the end of the game and overtime, we were all screaming at the game, not just the Memphis folk!  Luckily, Memphis won the game in overtime!  Go Tigers Go!!  After the exciting game of Memphis beating UAB for the tenth straight time since 2006, we ate dessert, chocolate pie and apple pie, both with ice cream!  Of course, after eating out and then eating dessert, you start to feel guilty and feel that you need to work out, so what do we do?  We pull out the Wii and demonstrate my personal trainer Wii game to our parents before a little bowling and golfing!  The fun doesn't stop Saturday night though.  Sunday, all of us head to church and then to Cappe's for lunch.  My sister, Tracy, and her boyfriend, Chad are waiting there to join us for lunch and for the day!  We had a great lunch at Cappe's before coming back to our house.  The boys decided to watch football for the afternoon so the girls decided to show Tracy around Starkville.  About ten minutes later (the tour is complete... :) ), so we began our errands to Dollar Tree and Tuesday Morning. 

Sunday night we went back to church for Chad's Ordination.  It was really special that our families were in town and able to share this with us.  I am so proud of Chad!  The service was really moving and meaningful to all of us.  We are lucky to be part of such a loving and welcoming church.  My parents, Tracy, and Chad had to leave almost immediately after the service to head back to Memphis so we said our good-byes at the church.  Chad's parents were able to stay Sunday night so we headed for a quick dinner after church before returning back home to hang out some more. 

This weekend was so much fun and we enjoyed every part of it!  I am EXHAUSTED from the weekend and can't seem to catch up on rest!  I guess we will continue to play the game of being exhausted and getting rested again, because like we said, our life is crazy and busy, but we are having a blast!

Starkville, MS

How Did We Get to Starkville?

Chad graduated from Mid-America Seminary in Memphis in December 2009 where he began looking for a job to be a Youth Minister.  I was teaching first grade in Memphis at the time where I had taught since I graduated from college in 2007.  We were pretty open to Chad finding a job anywhere, but were hoping it would be close to Memphis, especially because we were not yet married and all of our friends are there.  Chad was offered the job as Associate Pastor/Student Minister the end of May and moved to Starkville in June.  I applied for jobs in Starkville in May right after Chad took the job, but kept hearing there were no openings.  So, the summer was spent with both of us going back in forth between Memphis and Starkville.  It was the end of July before we knew it and school was just around the corner.  I went back to Southwind and had my classroom ready when I received a phone call about a second grade position open in Starkville.  Chad and I were in Hillsboro, MO at the time and drove from there to Starkville and I intereviewed the next morning.  I received the call offering me the job when I was at inservice at Southwind.  With lots of tears and hugs, I packed up my classroom of three years and left the most incredible school, that was really the only place I knew.  I headed to Starkville late that night where I began the next morning at 8:00 a.m.  My parents drove the U-Haul to Starkville the next morning and we began to not only set up a brand new classroom, but tried to move more things into our apartment.  Although, I miss Southwind and my "teacher friends" dearly, I am thankful I have a job in Starkville and love second grade.

Chad and I make it back to Memphis as often was we can to see my family and our friends and welcome them anytime down here too!  Let us know if you want to visit and we'll put you on the calendar!