We met in 2015 at a Cheerleadership camp at Central Washington University. Our teams were buddy teams staying on the same floor in the dorms, which means our teams were partners in almost everything we did at camp. Karina noticed Dillon and tried to talk to him, but she had lost her voice. So she picked on him to get his attention, pulling on his name tag, bumping into him, and a few other things. This seemed to work because when the last day of camp rolled around, Dillon and Karina exchanged Snapchats and started talking there. While Karina was at her Performing Arts Camp with the Missoula Children's Theatre, Dillon and her spoke on the phone every night, way past when Karina was supposed to be in her cabin for lights out. A month later during a late-night phone call, Dillon asked Karina to be his girlfriend with a cheesy pick-up line. The rest is history.

In June 2024, Dillon and Karina visited Japan to visit their friend Terrah. On their second full day in Japan, they spent the morning sightseeing at Shinjuku Park. Dillon suggested that they take a photo at the Japanese Gardens, to Karina's surprise. When she turned around, Dillon was down on one knee. Dillon had told Karina multiple times that he was not going to propose while they were in Japan, so she was caught by surprise, as Dillon and Terrah did a great job of keeping it a secret.