At the College of Idaho, Tiana was a sprinter and Matt was a distance runner. While members of these respective groups are often natural born enemies, Matt and Tiana bridged their differences by forming an alliance to defeat their teammates at "pong". After many victories, Matt had resigned that she was likely too good for him and he returned to his dorm room. Persistent as always, Tiana too returned to the dorms, intent to tell him that she wanted to be more than just his "pong" partner. She knocked on his door, grabbed his face, and the rest is history.

Early in the morning on the first day of Christmas vacation on the Big Island of Hawaii (and I mean like 4 am early because of jet lag), Matt asked Tiana if she wanted to go on a sunrise hike. They climbed a volcanic cinder cone atop Manua Kea, where, as the sun rose above the clouds, Matt got down on one knee and proposed to Tiana!