When Kayla moved to Tacoma, WA in 2018, Erin Jollota, bridesmaid, introduced Kayla and John over text message since John was already living in Tacoma. Over a few games of pick-up basketball, nights at Dystopian Brewing Company and an Army victory in the 2018 Army-Navy game, they developed a friendship that soon turned into more. Since fall of 2018, their lives have been a shared journey, and the adventure continues!

After the snow-magedan of 2021 ruined John's proposal plans at Brown's point miles north of Tacoma, John took Kayla on a walk in Point Defiance Park, a park that John and Kayla frequently ran and enjoyed playing with their dogs. Along the Puget Sound invisible beyond the snow, John proposed with their close friends in tow, careful not to let the champagne bottles clang in their backpacks until after John asked the big question. John told Kayla he would choose to love her everyday for the rest of his life and asked her if she'd do the same. Of course the answer was yes, and they celebrated the rest of the day with their close friends, two puppies and lots of champagne.