There lived a handsome young prince and beautiful young princess

Here's to playing catchup on our family journal entries. . . enjoy!!
Now, from the beginning. . . Kristin Nicole Whitman and Joshua Anthony Pete were eternally married and sealed 30 April 2005 in the Orlando Florida Temple.

After enjoying our brief stay at Amelia Island Plantation following the reception, we packed up the X-Terra and headed out to Provo to start our new little family. The trip out took us through Carthage and Navuoo Illinois, and Winter Quarters Nebraska.

Provo became our new life together for a few months, as Josh worked for Global Aviation at the Provo Airport and Kristin worked at a Research Survey company in town. Our humble 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment at Lilac Place kept us HOT all summer long for lack of air conditioning, and the shortage of funds for a bed had us sleeping on an air matress. Even though it was $500 a month rent, it was a good start. We enjoyed going for nightly walks around the block and early morning runs before work. But we mostly looked forward to our weekly Saturday morning hike up to the "Y" followed by going to one of the many temples Utah has to offer. Of our 2-3 months in Provo, we were able to attend endowment sessions at the Provo, Mt Timpanogos, Manti, Jordan River, Salt Lake, and Bountiful Temples. Little did we know at the time, but these temple trips proved to be a source of great blessings to the two of us in the year to come.

From mid July to beginning of August 2005 we went on our official honeymoon to England and Italy. We loved eating fish and chips with Nanny and Colin, walking the streets of tiny Newbury and exploring medieval castles of Newbury and Windsor! We even got to see King Arthur's round table located in Winchester!



In Italy we saw some old friends, some cool churches, and ran our way through the Vatican in under an hour!

















With summer fun and enchantment behind us, upon our return to the states, Kristin graduated from the University of North Florida with a Bachelors in Communication. We said good bye to family and friends once again and headed back up to Provo for Josh's commissioning ceremony where he pinned on 2 Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. He also graduated from Utah Valley State College with a Bachelors in History. There was little time to sit back and soak in the congratulations and hip hip hurrays however, and it was off on a new adventure. . .pilot training!


So, by September 2005 we had our little 1 room apartment packed up and shipped out to Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta, Georgia where Josh

began Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT). We quickly moved up in the economic ladder with almost double the pay we made in Provo and triple the house for less. We also received a housing allowance, health and dental insurance at no cost, even life insurance! The Air Force definitely gave us that stability every new marriage longs for. It also, funny enough, brought us closer to family with Mamaw and Pampaw (Kristin's grandparents) living just 10 minutes from our new home and both in-laws living only 2 hours away in Orange Park, Florida.

Excited to wear the uniform with those butter bars on his shoulders, Josh eagerly involved himself with his first official duty in the Air Force. He worked for the 479 Flying Training Group for a month then went out to Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama to attend a 6 week Air and Space Basic Course (ASBC) for all new officers who commissioned in 2005. Maxwell eventually became a place of significance for us when Kristin found out she was pregnant following her weekend trip out there to visit. We couldn't have been more excited after months of trying to get pregnant. Josh returned to Georgia once he completed his course in mid December 2005, and the two of us went out to Florida where we spent Christmas with our families. What better way to have finished up the year!