In the summer of 2021 Schafer came across Kylie's Facebook profile as a 'Friends You May Know'. He decided to add her and she accepted. After they became Facebook friends Kylie thought it was odd that he had no pictures on his profile, so she decided to add him on Instagram. He quickly accepted and followed with a messaged saying "Hey, how are you?" and they soon became enamored with one another. They officially started dating in September of 2021 and continued to date long distance for a year. As Schafer was about to start his second year of medical school they decided to take the next step by moving in together. Kylie packed up her life, along with her beloved cat Akon, and headed to Yakima, Washington. After a year of putting down roots in Yakima, Schafer and Kylie added a new member to their family; Delilah, their Chesapeake Bay Retriever.

In January, Schafer had told Kylie that their friends would be coming into town for a medical school conference at the school. Kylie was excited to have all of her close friends in town, as most of them had moved away for rotations. Right before the weekend Jenny (Schafer's mom) notified both of them that Landri (Schafer's sister) was flying into town as well, which was very unexpected and flustered Kylie to say the least. Once everyone had made it to town the group decided to go to Freehand Cellars Winery for a day of wine tasting and catching up. Although it was January, the weather was perfect and the patio heaters kept everyone nice and warm. After about 45 minutes, Schafer asked Kylie if she would like to go on a walk. This was very unusual for Schafer to do, but Kylie agreed and quickly grew suspicious when she heard everyone getting out of their chairs. Once they had reached the edge of the property, Schafer yelled out “here Delilah!” and Kylie immediately knew what was about to happen. Delilah brought out the temporary Walmart ring in a ring holder around her collar and Schafer got down on one knee. A professional photographer captured the moment and they both celebrated the rest of the night with their close friends.