Our Engagement
Well it all started when I left. But only for my study abroad trip to Ecuador! It was extremely sad to leave, and while we found ways to communicate, Kellan was so very patient the whole time I was gone. A couple months later Kellan told me he was going to come visit me! I was thrilled and started planning all our sight-seeing for around Quito. I gave Kellan a basic idea of the stuff we would do, and possibly could do. These ideas obviously came in handy!
Soon after Kellan arrived we decided we would do a lot of the “touristy” things in one day. So we headed out of Quito to la Mitad del Mundo, or the Equator line! It took the majority of the day as you have to travel a small while to get to the touristy equator line. I remember while we were on the tour little things would set Kellan’s nerves off and he would just act sheepish in general, which is quite different for my normally suave man! I think we finished at la Mitad del Mundo at about 1 or 2. We were catching a night bus that evening to leave for the coast, so I told Kellan we wouldn’t have time to go up the Teleferico, which is a gondola that runs up the side of a mountain for a beautiful view of Quito. I remember Kellan’s response was something like, “well, ok, I guess…” Which didn’t make alot of sense to me because I didn’t know the Teleferico was that big of a deal. Well all that to say, we figured out we might as well go up there since we didn’t have much else to do in that time. This made for a very happy Kellan.
The Teleferico is quite popular even for Ecuadorians so when we arrived at the ticket booth the place was packed. Eventually we got our tickets and headed over to get in the gondola, an enclosed cart made for six people. Well, we got to the front of the line and the place had become suddenly deserted. So we settled in and I happily blabbered about how nice it was to have our own cart. I noticed Kellan squirming but continued to chat it up when all the sudden he was kneeling in front of me! I couldn’t believe it, and I know my head went a little fuzzy with happiness, but it sure didn’t take me long to figure out what was happening! So as the gondola continues rising, Kellan says something like, “I had an idea for our next adventure” to which I asked “what?” and he asked, “will you marry me?” with a great big smile on his face 
I returned that big smile, added some tears, nodded furiously, and then blurted out “yesfsffsffffff” (I’m quite eloquent). Needless to say I was a bit teary eyed and had a hard time talking, but Kellan got the point and we continued our ride into the sky extremely happily and joyously.
You could say it was one of those stories where we rode of into the sunset. Actually, since we went late in the day clouds were rolling in (they normally do that time of day in Quito), and so, “we rode up, up, and away into the clouds”, I’m convinced it was cloud 9!