Nick and Ellen first met in the eighth grade during band class. If you ask Nick, it was love at first sight. At the end of freshman year, Nick moved to Kiowa, KS, and they lost touch. Flash forward to senior year, Nick reached out to Ellen, and they went to his senior prom together. After that weekend, they saw each other almost every two weeks despite the distance. They dated through their freshman year of college, seeing each other as much as they could. Eventually, despite how much they tried to make it work, the distance and circumstances became too much. During the next few years, Ellen worked hard in school, focusing on getting accepted into a graduate program. Nick graduated college, landed a job in Pratt, KS, and welcomed a son, Montgomery Malone. Just before Ellen started her first semester of graduate school, they reconnected, picking up right where they left off, only better. They always knew they were each other’s, “the one”. ♡

While Ellen was on her medical externship in Bartlesville, OK, Nick and her saw each other about every 2 weeks. They had been on the phone one evening planning what they were going to do the coming weekend, and Nick said, “Want to go camping?” Ellen agreed and they decided they would meet that weekend at some local campgrounds. Right before the weekend started, Nick called Ellen and told her his older brother Trey had forwarded tickets to a Mardi Gras festival in Eureka Springs, AR. Nick said they would go on a hike on Saturday, and then head down to the festival. Saturday morning rolled around, and Trey and Caroline took the two out for breakfast at a local dive. Afterwards, they drove the hour to start the Whitaker Point hike. They made it to the trailhead, and took off. After hiking down a ways, they saw the look-out point. Caroline stayed back, blaming it on being pregnant and how she “needed to use the restroom” - turns out she was trying to get a different angle of pictures. Nick, Ellen, and Trey made their way to the lookout point. Nick let Ellen lead in the hike (mistake #1). Ellen proceeded to trip and fall on a tree root (gracefully of course). Nick took the lead and they made it to the trail end. After posing for pictures, Ellen sat down to tie her shoe, looked up, and saw Nick on one knee, asking to marry her. She could NOT believe he had been planning this all along. It was the absolute best weekend :)