You may want to buckle up and settle in! Because after 13+ years of being together, it's a rather long story...

Mia considers her hometown to be Hartland, Wisconsin, though she was born in Indianapolis, Indiana and her family lived in northern California for six years before moving to Hartland when Mia was in 2nd grade. Mia grew up with wonderful parents, Terry and Ana, and close siblings, Jacob and Sophie. Mia was rarely bored growing up, thanks to their Hartland home bordering +200 acres of woods and only being a couple blocks away from the local library and park. Mia enjoyed her family's frequent trips to Milwaukee and Chicago, where they'd visit museums, attend festivals, and try new restaurants. Mia's favorite part of summer was her family's week-long trip up north to the same cozy lakefront cabins in Manitowish Waters, where they'd spend the week swimming, fishing, having bonfires, and exploring the adjoining lakes. Mia enjoyed creative outlets like drawing/painting and had a passion for music.

Phil was born and raised in rural Amery, Wisconsin. Phil is the only surviving child of Chuck and Janice (having lost elder brother, Anthony, before Phil was born). Phil had everything he ever wanted as a child, but his favorite toys were a chunk of wood that Phil used to practice his hammering skills and later his custom treasure chest built by Chuck. Phil grew up watching/helping Chuck build their family log home and went on the seemingly thousands of trips to Menards to help load and unload building materials. Phil enjoyed spending a lot of time outside, whether it was hunting for squirrels or deer with his dad, swimming with his mom in their backyard pool, or building forts in the woods at their family home.

Mia and Phil attended UW-La Crosse and were introduced to each other in 2012 by mutual friends, who are also part of the wedding party - Chelsea Hodgins and Nick Sinram. Chelsea and Nick (who are now married) were dating at the time, and Chelsea thought Nick's friend, Phil, would really hit it off with her roommate, Mia - and oh was she right! A big thank you to Chelsea for playing matchmaker all those years ago.

Phil and Mia immediately hit it off and connected over shared interests in music, hiking, vegetarianism, and camping. After meeting Phil with only a few months left of her senior year of college, Mia wasn't ready to say goodbye to him when the school year ended, which largely influenced her decision to renew her lease for another year in La Crosse. Phil and Mia spent every free moment together, hiking the bluffs, watching movies, attending concerts and music festivals, going out for meals and drinks, and hanging with friends. In 2013, Mia got a job in Milwaukee and moved back in with her parents for two years. Phil remained in La Crosse, where he worked and owned a house, and he and Mia visited each other nearly every weekend.

Camping and traveling have always played central roles in Mia and Phil's relationship. They first started camping together at music festivals around the Midwest and canoe camping on the Wisconsin River (including over a decade of annual canoe trips with Chelsea and Nick). Phil and Mia took their first big camping trip together to Yellowstone National Park in 2014. They hiked, slept in a hammock tent, saw black bears, and visited with friends along the way. This trip solidified their love of camping and traveling together.

Once Mia moved to Madison in 2015, Mia and Phil started going on regular group camping trips with close friends (many of whom are in the wedding party!). Their friend group continues to try to pack in as many group camping trips a year as possible, usually with the final camp out being Halloween themed at the end of October. In 2016, Mia and Phil traveled to Colorado where they hiked Mia's first fourteener and embarked on their first backpacking camping trip along Gore Creek. Even though it rained for a full day, and they were novices when it came to backpack camping (they now laugh at how they brought such heavy items as canned food and wool blankets, and how Mia learned "weatherproof" is not the same as "waterproof"), this camping trip sparked a love for backpacking and inspired many future backpack camping trips. One of their favorite camping trips was a ten-day camping vacation in Iceland in 2018, which included four days of backpack camping in the mountains, hiking the tectonic plates, and exploring lava tunnels, black sand beaches, glaciers, and enjoying Icelandic smoked salmon & egg salad sandwiches.

Phil and Mia also share a passion for mushrooms and mycology. Phil took a mycology course at UW-La Crosse taught by world-renowned mycologist Thomas Volk, and Phil went on to take four additional courses at Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College alongside his dad. Phil and Chuck cultivated Oyster and Shiitake mushrooms on logs and have a big morel hunt every year. Phil shared his interest and excitement for mushrooms with Mia, and she quickly became fascinated by them and the crucial roles they play in our ecosystems (in addition to being delicious and fun to find). Mia began her own educational mushroom journey and has attended the annual Mycelium Mysteries conference put on by the Midwest Women's Herbal Society for three years and counting. Whenever Phil and Mia hike, they try to keep their eyes peeled for mushrooms, especially their favorites: Chicken of the Woods, Maitake, Indigo Milk Caps, and Lion's Mane.

In 2017, after four years of long-distance, Phil sold his house in La Crosse and moved with his cat, Zozo, to be with Mia in Madison. Phil was on the market for land in the surrounding Madison area to build a house, and in 2019, Phil and Mia visited a lakefront property for sale in Sauk City and immediately fell in love with the area and could envision building their dream home there. Phil purchased the land and with a lot of work from his dad and uncle Les, they cleared the wooded property enough to put a camping trailer. Phil and Mia like to spend as much time as possible at the couple acre peninsula, camping, having bonfires, boating, fishing, looking for native artifacts, clearing brush, and visiting with friends and family. They can't wait to one day build a home there and live at the beautiful property permanently.

Since they knew it would be a while until they could start building at the Sauk City property, in 2021, Mia bought a condo across the street from Lake Mendota in the city of Middleton. Mia and Phil were excited to have a place of their own that they could personalize and update (often with generous help and labor from Phil's dad). Since the new condo allowed dogs, it wasn't long until Phil and Mia adopted an adorable brindle puppy and named her Penny.

In March 2024, Mia brought up the topic of marriage to Phil and said it was feeling like the right time to discuss taking that next step. Phil agreed but brushed her off a little, and said they should have the marriage conversation in couple weeks - what Mia didn't know was Phil had already purchased an engagement ring and was waiting to propose during an upcoming weekend getaway at a cabin in Elkhart Lake. A couple of weeks later, after a fun day at the cabin playing pinball and hot tubing, Phil and Mia found themselves at the kitchen table, where they sat for hours leisurely playing board games and talking, and it was in the middle of a game of Yahtzee that Phil got down on one knee and proposed - and Mia joyfully accepted!

As Phil and Mia have been together for over 13 years, their love and understanding of each other runs deep. They have had so many wonderful times, laughs, and adventures together, they've grown together and supported each other through tough times too. Mia and Phil believe their lives and futures are beautifully intertwined, and though they don't expect too much to drastically change after getting married, they're excited to formally commit to a lifetime together and celebrate with loved ones.

Thank you for joining in this celebration and being a part of our story!

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