How It All Started (By: Aquene)

It all started on December 14th, 2013. My mom, Karen, and I moved in across the street from Kelly and his parents in Niwot, CO earlier in 2012. I lived down in Denver at the time finishing up my degree at Metropolitan State University of Denver in Adult Fitness & Exercise Science. I had no idea there was such a handsome man living across the street in Niwot until I came back home one weekend. Kelly and his mom had stopped by the house to say hi and I knew then that it was meant to be. A few weeks later, I came back home to see my mom and some friends and Kelly had called the house to see if I wanted to go to Caffe Sole for some live Jazz music. It was a very romantic evening and we hit it off instantly. A week after that, Kelly drove down to Denver to pick me up from the house I was living in at the time to take me out on a date to a French restaurant. That was when we decided to make it official :) Every weekend or two after that, Kelly and I would make an effort to see each other, whether it was going on a date out to eat at our favorite restaurant, listening to live jazz music, or just sitting around a fire talking about life. In May of 2015, I graduated and moved back home to live with my mom. Now Kelly and I live together and are searching for a house somewhere in Colorado :-)

The Proposal (By: Kelly)

When asked of the things he wanted to do before the end of his life, Morgan Freeman—as Carter in the 2007 film, The Bucket List—replied, “Witness something truly majestic.” He then set off to do so. I am fortunate enough to be able to say that I experienced majesty as well, and not just once.

My family and I once took a trip to Honolulu to visit family during my youth, and my father, who grew up on the island, woke me early one morning to go hike to Makapu’u Point. The hike was steep, though well-paved. A slightly saline mist of the early morning hung over this coastal mountain, and it obscured any view of the sea. It was getting lighter and lighter as the sun slowly rose. Right around the time we reached the summit, the fog started to lift revealing a clear breathtaking panorama of the ocean far off into the horizon. It was truly majestic.

Years later, I found a second instance of majesty when I realized my love for Aquene. We were already anticipating a trip back to Hawai’I, and I knew that it could potentially be my last chance to visit Makapu’u once more. After some careful planning and secret ring-acquisition, I sat next to Aquene on a very long flight across the Pacific.
“What should we do while we’re here?” she asked me, and I not-too-conspicuously replied, “Well, we should hike up Makapu’u!” She hesitated at first, but I insisted.

We left early the next morning, and we traveled there via Uber. As we trekked up the hill, I playfully whined, “This hike seems much more rigorous than before; the mountain clearly shifted…” Aquene rolled her eyes. Breathing heavily, we finally reached the summit, and it was just as breathtaking as I remembered. There were also plenty of tourists. I handed my phone to the father of a nearby family (he looked nice), and I asked him to take a picture of the two of us. Just as we began to pose, I quickly removed the ring from my bag, and I dropped to one knee. We were engaged shortly thereafter. Little did I know, the tourist captured the whole scene on video!