Oh Wow!

Ok, so I've taken a slight hiatus from blogging...but there is some hope...my wonderful husband bought me a new digital camera for my birthday, so now I am a photographing fool who actually knows how to download and edit my own pics! Yes, miracles can happen! The last few months have been pretty crazy. We moved to our new townhouse the last weekend of October, which is literally in the neighborhood across the street from our old apartment. We're loving our new place, but still have a lot to do to make it our own. If you have facebook, there's a whole album of house pics on my profile page.

The month of November was full of unpacking, work, traveling for holidays, and weddings. My cousin Kate was married November 10th in Ft. Meyers, Florida, and it was an awesome time to hang-out with my mom's side of the family. I've included a few wedding pics for your viewing pleasure. ;-)

The month of December has been pretty busy, with Mark working hard at Apple and Biogen. For my birthday, he took me on a date to the new Melting Pot up the street. This was my second time there and it was sooooo yummy...way too much food...but soooo worth it! We had a great time!

Now, we are finishing up work, shopping, and decorating in anticipation for our Christmas travels. Mark, Candy, and I will spend the majority of the holiday with family in VA and we are so ready to get away! Just gotta make it thru one more week of school!






















Just had to post this pic....documented proof just how much Isaac LOVES his Uncle Mark! :-)

One more thing....

I (Kristin) was offered a 5th grade teaching position for an elementary school in Raleigh. Everything happened very quickly, as I was called for an interview the first day of our Emerald Isle Vacation. I had my very first phone conference with the principal, vice principal, and one of the 5th-grade teachers...pretty nerve-racking for me. Long story short, I drove back to Raleigh the next day, Tuesday, and accepted the position in person. The school is only 7-years-old and a lot smaller than my previous one. We had a staff retreat last weekend in Beaufort, NC (right near where we were for vacation the week before), and it was a really neat opportunity to meet some of my new co-workers. You get pretty close to people when your staying in a double-wide trailer for 2 nights! ;-) So, ultimately I'm feeling hugely blessed and thankful about the opportunity God has given me for the upcoming school year. The whole job-search experience was a huge reminder of my need to trust in His Will and provision for Mark and myself. I'll try to post some pics of my new classroom sometime soon! :-)

Beach Vacation #2!

Mark and I spent our other beach vacation with his family at a sweet house in Emerald Isle, NC. This was my first vacation out there and I had a blast! The house we stayed in was huge and sooo nice. (Check-out pics below.) Our week was jam-packed full of fun. We ate at this really great seafood place called Sanitary fish market, beached it up almost everyday, went kayaking to this cool bird sanctuary, played mini-golf, toured Cape Look-Out Lighthouse, jet-skied, visited some of Mark's extended family in the area, and slept a bunch! Let's just say, Mark and I did not want to leave when our vacation week came to an end. The house we stayed in is for sale right now...just a mere 1.2 million....so we're considering buying...as we are in the process of looking to buy our first home! We wish! ;-) Here are a bunch of pics from some of our adventures in the Crystal Coast...enjoy!

























Family Christmas Card Pic!













Our dream home for the week!








Beautiful scenery all around...we're ready to go back! :-)

Catchin' Up!

Has it really been a month since our last post?!? Well, July was a whirlwind of family vacations and lots of fun! Mark and I spent our first week of family vacation with my (Kristin's) family in VA Beach. Yet again, everyone crammed in our 2 oceanfront condos--minus Erin and Matthew--who were definitely missed. The week consisted of lots of beach time, Wii playing, eating, and making lots of fun memories. All of our nephews and niece LOVED the beach this year. It's so fun to see how they will react to the ocean and the sand each year that they are older. ;-) Here are some pics from our adventures...



The kids loved to mimic the "grown-ups" using the Wii controllers,,,too cute!





Here's Mark and Rick playing this goofy game on Wario Ware, where they had to jump at the same time--very entertaining for the rest of us watching!





Caleb loved to ride his Daddy's shoulders, while Aunt Kristin loved to tickle his sides to hear his squeals of laughter...much to the dismay of Rick's ears ;-)





Isaac loved riding the trolley up and down the oceanfront! I'm so bummed we didn't have a pic of Jakey on it too...as the trolleys were the highlight of his vacation this year!

2 Years!

As of this past Monday, July 9th, Mark and I have been married for two wonderful years. We actually "celebrated" our anniversary Sunday night, with Mark surprising me with a dinner at Brasa, a Brazilian Steak House. Neither one of us had ever been to a Brazilian Steakhouse, but it came highly recommended by some of Mark's co-workers. Well, all Mark's friends were right, because the food was awesome and we had a blast watching the servers carrying huge skewers of meat around to the tables. I managed to get one of the servers to let me take a picture of Mark pulling off a slice of grilled cinnamon pineapple, as you can see below. We had such a nice evening relaxing and enjoying eachother's company.














Monday morning, I awoke to a beautiful bouquet of Fourth of July flowers and a super-sweet card from my husband. He's always making me personalized on his computer, using pics we've taken of the two of us together. Unfortunately, that night, Mark had to work his night shift at Biogen, so I decided to take him some yummy food for his "lunch break". Even though we didn't get to see each other much on the actual day of our anniversary, you could definitely feel the love in all the little things we were able to do for each other. We can't wait to share many more years of memories and marriage!

Fourth of July Fun!

I can't believe the 4th of July has already come and gone! Unfortunately, Mark had to work a bunch this past week, so I decided to drive home for the Independence Day festivities in VA. Mom, Dad, and I joined my Aunt, Uncle, Grandma, and cousins for some yummy food and celebration. This year, Dad came up with a seemingly brilliant idea to try to get on the Yorktown Coast Guard base for this year's firework display. (There is a pretty awesome dock that we had planned to walk out on to watch the show.) Since he is a retired Coastie, the base's gateguard stated on the phone that it would be fine for us to get through the road blocks. So, the 'rents and I (plus my cousin Drew) piled in the convertible and headed out for the show in Yorktown. We ended up getting past one roadblock, only to be stopped a little further down the road at another blockade. Unfortunately, we were informed that only "active duty" Coast Guard were allowed on base for the night. Total bummer! However, Dad had a plan "B", and we headed across the bridge to the Glouster side of the York River to catch the show. We found a sweet parking spot and the perfect spot on the Glouster Beach to set-up our stadium chairs. The weather was gorgeous and the firework show was great...the only thing that would have made the night more perfect would have been for Mark to be there with me! ;-) So, that was my firework adventure for the year. We'll totally be prepared for next year's show!


Mom, Dad and me enjoying the show!



Here's Drew workin' the mini tri-pod!






Just a couple shots from the show

All over the place!

Wow! Ever since school ended, things have been pretty crazy, hence the lack of blog postings. I (Kristin) have traveled to VA the previous 3 weekends for various reasons. It feels great to finally be able to hang-out at home with Mark this weekend. My sister Erin is coming into "Dirty Durham" today and I am most definitely looking forward to hanging out with her. Mark, however, is a little worried about Erin's visit, as last time us girls went on a major shopping spree at the awesome mall up the street. I've assured Mark that this visit will not be long enough to entail the same "damage". I don't know if he's fully convinced though. ;-) In other news, Mark and I are gearing up for the month of July and the start of our family vacations. My family will be vacationing at our usual timeshare in VA Beach, while Mark's family is renting a pretty sweet house in Emerald Isle, NC. The house is called "Blue Sapphire" and here's the link to some pics: http://www.bluewatergmac.com/bluesapph_pics. Well, I'd better get moving, as Erin arrives in a few hours. I will most definitely post some pics from the visit soon! 'Til then, enjoy some of these pictures from the LoPresti archive. :-)




Since July 4th is right around the corner, here is a pic from our "family outing" to watch fireworks in Raleigh last year!





This is a typical shot of how Candy spends her day....must be nice!





Hopefully, this year's VA Beach vacation will be a little more exciting for Caleb than last year's trip!

Summertime....and the livin's easy!

I am officially on summer vacation! Our last student day was June 7th, and it sure couldn't have come soon enough! So, what are our plans for the summer you ask? Well, there are a few family vacations and weddings coming up, nothing too unusual. I will be continuing my search for a teaching job in the fall, hopefully at a school a little closer to home. Currently, I am pursuing a position in middle education, as I want to try teaching only one subject. In both of my previous teaching positions, I have taught all of the academic subjects, and boy is that intense for lesson-planning! One last event for the summer, Mark and I will begin looking at houses in the area. We've really enjoyed where we are in the Southeast part of Durham, so we'll hopefully find a house we like somewhere nearby. Please pray for us, as the whole house-buying process is completely foreign to us. The plan is to be out of our apartment and into a house by the end of October.....which will be here before we know it!

I've included some pictures from my trip home to VA the weekend of June 2nd---Mark wasn't able to join me b/c of work. Nevertheless, having all of my mom's side of the family in Newport News to celebrate Grandma's 80th birthday, was quite entertaining! Enjoy the pics!

FINALLY!!!

I had to write about a huge praise that happened today. As some of you already know, I have had quite a struggle finishing the requirements for my VA teaching license. Over the past few years I have taught using a provisional license, which definitely made things more complicated when looking for jobs. However, this past November I took and passed the final required Praxis 2 exam and figured I was well on my way to being finished with everything required. Recently, I learned of potential additional Praxis 2 tests I might have had to take, but luckily it was a false rumor. I checked the VA Education website today and searched for my name in the teaching license database, and up popped my information, stating that I have finally been issued a full teaching license for VA, to teach grades 4-8. I still need to get them to change my maiden name and spell my middle name correctly, but that's nothing compared to what I've been through! After all these years, my license is finished and I am good to teach until renewal in June 2011! Praise God for giving Mark and me the patience and diligence to finish things up! My next hurdle is to apply for my reciprocal NC license this summer and end up with a NC teaching license for grades K-9. Please pray for my continued motivation to finish everything up and patience for stuff to be processed. The end is most definitely in sight! :-)

P.S.--> I've included some pics of our oldest nephews Jacob (first pic) and Isaac (2nd pic). Don't want them to think their favorite Aunt and Uncle forgot about them in their blog!

We are officially cool! :-)

Ok, so in an attempt to keep people updated better on what's going on in our lives, Mark and I (Kristin) decided to join the ever-growing world of blogging. Married life has kept us pretty busy! Well, summer is right around the corner, and I am very much anticipating the end of a very crazy school year. It will be nice to finally relax in the evenings, knowing that I don't have any paperwork to complete or lessons to plan. We just finished our statewide standardized testing this week and both the students and teachers are quite happy to see them done! Mark is keeping busy with Apple and Biogen, and very much enjoying meeting up with new friends for pick-up basketball games and other things. Candy, our 4-year-old black lab is very much spoiled, but still very sweet and full of love. So yeah, for right now, not too much excitement going on with us, but I guess this is the calm before the storm of weddings, family get-togthers, and vacations of summer! I figured I'd attach a couple recent photos just to make our first post more interesting....enjoy! :-)




Mark and I cheezin it up for the camera at Beth and Tyler's wedding.








"The Beast" aka Candy











Our nephew Caleb with his Monkey. :-)













Caleb's twin sister Bekah looking oh-so-girly for the camera!