UPDATE ON THE HEWIETTS

Yes, we are still alive... I am just a terrible blogger.

It has been over 2 months since my last post - shame on me!! Although, I must say - I am noticing a common trend with many of my blogging buddies. Busy times.

Where do I even begin...


TRAVEL - We do a lot of it!! I still need to post about our wonderful trip last NOVEMBER to San Diego. I need to get on that.... Josh had a hospital conference and I got to tag along and we celebrated our birthdays in style!

For the holidays we were in Dallas for Thanksgiving and Jacksonville for Christmas... need to do update posts about this as well...

In January we visited our friends Sarah and Logan in Memphis and Adam & Tyler in Murphy, TN.

For work this year I have already been to Kent, Ohio & Carbondale, IL. I will have several more trips in the coming months to Chapel Hill, NC, Durham, NH (get to fly into Boston!! - never been there before!), Kennesaw, GA, Lock Haven, PA & Raleigh, NC. This summer is going to be busy!

Josh and I also have a couple of FUN trips coming up soon... Chicago in March (another hospital conference I am tagging along to) and BERMUDA in June for my sister's wedding cruise!! Can't wait :)


ON CALL - Josh's residency is going great and this year he has actually started to rotate as the "Administrator On Call." You should definitely ask him about it if you see him... he has done one week-long rotation so far and it was quite eventful. Those middle of the night phone calls to settle Physician disputes are not fun, let me tell you.... (Or let him...)


ACE - This year I am a mentor in the ACE program here in Birmingham. Design & construction professionals mentor highschool students in the junior or senior year who are interested in becoming an Architect, Construction Manager, Engineer (or Interior Designer!) Each week we visit different firms and learn about the design and construction processes. The kids even have to complete a group project which we had to assist with... I think I had a little PTSD from studio come out, but hopefully they were not too scared :).


DRIVE - We drive like its our job - each of us have a 110 mile roundtrip daily commute and we are counting down the days until we move! We have enjoyed the past 9 months in small town America - but we are ready for a slightly bigger city - somewhere we can both live, work, go to church and say TARGET within 5-10 miles of each other. Josh's residency will finish this May and so we will hopefully have some exciting updates this summer on where we are moving next!


SMALL GROUP - We are still involved (as much as we can be) in our small group at Brook Hills. We miss seeing everyone each week very much and are sad when we realize that we will not be a small group very much longer... 5 of the 6 couples in our small group will be moving this summer after graduating from grad school to places like Ohio & Chicago and South Alabama... it is a sad, yet very exciting time for all of us as we expand and move out to glorify Christ in new and exciting places. We are hoping to plan another trip to the Farm (like last year) as a farewell weekend. We are also sad to think that we may only have a few more months at Brook Hills and under the wonderful preaching of David Platt - but we are excited to see where God will take us and use us in our new home - wherever that may be.

2012 = year of change... plain and simple.

BOOKWORM - So apparently that is what I am now - I never liked to read very much in highschool or college but there is something about traveling that makes me crave a good book. Lately I have read The Help, Hunger Games series (Love - can't wait until March with the first movie premier), Falling Home by Karen White & I have recently started to read Gone with the Wind. (I have never even seen the movie - Josh's Mom will be excited when I tell her I am done with the book and ready to see the movie!!)

That is about all of the Hewiett Updates for now - stay tuned for more that will hopefully occur sooner than 2 months from now :).

CHRISTMAS CARD

Here is our Christmas card this year. We decided to design it with Shutterfly this year again -with 40% cards and free shipping - you really can't beat it. We addressed them and sent them out Saturday so be expecting your copy very soon!

P.S. We were very excited about our picture this year as well. We found a Cullman Local Landmark to include for our picture - the Clarkson Covered Bridge. (Originally built in 1904). We made use of our new camera and tripod to get a family shot :).

TRAVELING WITH DAD

My Dad loved to travel. Plain and simple. We were fortunate enough to tag along on all of the wonderful trips that he and my Mom took growing up. (Well, most of them, they took a few trips to be alone as well :). My Dad loved trying new things, seeing new places, meeting new people and trying new food. He taught us to appreciate these trips and treasure our time together as a family. Whether we were boarding the wrong train in Paris, falling down a ski slope in Colorado, or getting kicked out of the Sistene Chapel in Italy - we were together.

Today will be 8 years since my Dad's passing. I still miss him like it was yesterday - but I am so thankful for our many memories together. Josh and I plan to continue these wonderful memories with our family.

The Hewietts turn 27!!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!! Today is Josh's 27th birthday. Once again, for two days, he will be one year older :). I thought it would be fun to recap our last 8 birthdays that we have shared together...

19th Birthday - Dating

20th Birthday - Still Dating

21st Birthday - Yep, still dating

Insert picture of 22nd Birthday here... when we were (almost) engaged

23rd Birthday - First birthday as a married couple - in our Riverside Apartment :)

24th Birthday - with the whole family

25th Birthday - First Birthday in Birmingham

26th Birthday - at Jim N Nicks in Birmingham...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSHIE!!! Can't wait to celebrate this year with you in SAN DIEGO!!!

But first, we will celebrate with a birthday dinner for him tonight - last time I checked we were either going to Taco Bell or Cici's Pizza. He said he just "couldn't decide." Haha... pray for me, and my digestive system, please!!

Also, side note - is it bad that I had to ask Josh last month how old we were going to be this year? Time is flying!!

ANNIVERSARY IN DC

This year - Josh and I spent our 4-year Wedding Anniversary celebrating in DC. We had a wonderful time. It was so great to get away for a few days, visit the capital, learn a little, eat a lot :) and spend some much needed time together - we have been back for almost a month now, but before we go on our next big trip (details to come later!!) at the end of this week - I thought I should post an update on how this trip went...

Day 1 - We flew out of Huntsville (very nice airport actually) and into BWI (Baltimore) EARLY Friday morning. We caught an Amtrak train from BWI that took us straight to Union Station in DC. This was Josh's first time on a train and it was a very pleasant, quick trip! Once we got into the city, we caught a cab and checked into our hotel - The Liason. We really enjoyed staying here - it was nice, reasonably priced and EXTREMELY convenient to Union Station and the Capital.

In the afternoon we headed over to the National Mall, toured the outside of most of the Smithsonian Museums, visited the National History Museum (to see T-rex and the Hope Diamond, of course) and then headed straight over to the Halocaust Museum. I am not sure if I can truly describe this experience - I would say that it was probably our favorite thing that we did in DC... but it was certainly not a "fun" experience. To say that it was "sad" or "informative" does not really describe it either.... certainly, we are extremely glad that we went, learned more than I ever thought was possible in a 3 hour period, would definitely go back again - but would never (obviously) bring small children. Although I don't think we can begin to understand the horror that the victims of the Halocaust experienced - The United States Halocaust Memorial Museum certainly makes a good effort of showing you that experience.

Day 2 - On Saturday morning, we were up and out pretty early. We signed up for an early public tour of The Capital. We had both been to DC a few times before - but neither of us had done this particular tour. We started out in the visitor center, toured the Capital history museum (awesome scale models of the Capital throughout its several construction phases and expansions - I know, I am a nerd), and then got a general tour of the Rotunda and the public spaces for the Senate and the House. Getting a refresher of the history of our government and specifically Congress is always a plus. I forgot how truly beautiful the Capital is. Our tour guide said that the Capital is the most recognizable building in the world - (Not that he's biased or anything...)

After our tour of the Capital, we headed through the underground and over to the Library of Congress. After all of the scenes shot in this building after the National Treasure movies... I was excited to check out the hidden door at the information desk that led to the Presidents' private reading room... I was sad to discover that the Main Reading Room is actually closed to the public. You have to be completely official research to gain access to this area... very sad. But, we were able to view the room from behind glass upstairs... just no pictures.

Here are some pictures that we were able to get of the Library of Congress in the public spaces - I think this was my favorite government building that we visited. So beautiful. Love all of the marble and granite flooring patterns and the intricate ceiling designs... Again, nerd, I know. I can't help it.

After the Library of Congress, we spent the afternoon on a self-guided walking tour... trying to hit some of the highlights...

The Supreme Court

J Edgar Hoover FBI Building (So excited about the new movie coming out!!)

The new WWII Memorial

And Back to Union Station - our home away from our hotel for the weekend

Later that evening, we decided to venture back out to the National Mall and tour the monuments at night. This was a lot of fun... not quite as crowded and we really enjoyed testing and playing with all of the different settings on our new camera.

The Washington Monument

The WWII Memorial with the Lincoln Memorial in the background

WWII Memorial - probably one of my favorites!!

We took these pictures standing on the side of the Lincoln Memorial and looking back towards the Washington Monument and the Capital. DC is so pretty :)

View of our hotel at night - Capital in the Background

Day 3 - We woke up early Sunday morning and rode the Metro out to meet our friends in Anapolis. Jeff and Rachel were in town visiting family and friends and were gracious enough to pick us up and take us on a tour of the Naval Academy (where Jeff graduated) and Anapolis. Is was wonderful to get out of the busy city for the day and catch up with great friends - we even got to meet their adorable daughter, Naomi for the first time. She is certainly a cutie.

Naval Academy Chapel - Absolutely stunning. We received a private tour from Rachel's mom who is in charge of religious education for the Academy.

Group shot - in front of the residence hall - Best looking dorm I have ever seen!!

Banquet Hall inside their Residence Hall - very impressive.

Me with sweet Naomi - she loved my necklace :)

Thank you Rachel and Jeff - we had such a great time touring Anapolis with you guys :).

Day 4 - Final day in DC. On Monday we woke up and decided to attend the International Spy Museum. I am sad to say that it was slightly disappointing... maybe we set our sights too high by expecting to learn some critical national spy secrets... or maybe it was because it was the only museum that we had to pay for... but it definitely was not our favorite. I did learn a lot more about the Cuban Missile Crisis that I did not know... but other than that, it was kind of uneventful. I think all of the Bond and Bourne movies have ruined that for me (us).

After the museum, we headed back over to the White House to get some good (not so crowded) pics since it was a Monday. We did a little bit of shopping and then eventualy headed back to Union Station to catch another Amtrak back to BWI.

After 4 days, we were sad to leave, but again, so thankful for this time together. We had a wonderful 4 year anniversary vacation. Can't wait to go again :).

Now for our next trip... Josh and I are actually headed on another weekend vaca at the end of this week!! Josh has a conference for the hospital that he is attending in SAN DIEGO and I am coming with him!! We are both so stoked - we have never been to San Diego and absolutely loved California (San Francisco) on our honeymoon. We are excited to get away again - celebrate our birthdays and visit one of the world's largest zoos. (We love zoos...)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

What are you going to BEE this year??

4 YEARS AGO TODAY...

Happy Anniversary to my my wonderful husband, Josh. I can't believe it has been 4 years!! Time is definitely flying. We are excited about our trip this week - DC here we come!!