Blake & Sara met at a time when neither was looking. Expecting a weekend full of country music, friends, partying, and fun, they ended up a few campsites apart at Hodag Country Music Festival in Rhinelander, WI. Blake has told the story many times of the first time he saw Sara jump out of a truck and decided he had to talk to her. Decked out in a signature Hawaiian shirt, cowboy boots, and Gilligan hat, Blake made his way over to a game of bags and introduced himself, sneakily asking if Sara's boyfriend was going to play. After hearing Sara was single, he made his way back to Mike & Paul to tell them all about it. After Sara's interaction, she went back to her friends laughing about the Hawaiian shirt guy that is terrible at bags. The next morning started with Sara taking a trip to Blake's campsite to have a beer bong breakfast. That's when Blake's friends knew she was the real deal. Blake and Sara spent the days with their friends, playing yard games, drinking beer, and would end each night together talking for hours about families, life stories, and dreams for the future. Day 3 Sara text her friends and told them that she found the boy she was going to marry. Sunday night Blake and Sara danced to music by country music & Hodag legend, Neal McCoy. Still unsure of what the future held, they made plans for popcorn and movies the following day. Their love for popcorn, beer, friends, family, country music, and most importantly each other, remains as important and exciting as it was the very first day they met.

After a sad summer without Hodag in 2020, we couldn't have been more excited for our favorite weekend of the year. We got to Rhinelander and pulled into overflow on Tuesday for a romantic couple of days alone, but it poured for 2 days. Games of monopoly, cards, and antenna TV were getting pretty old and we were excited to see our friends on Wednesday! Thursday morning after a game of bags, loser had to do dishes. Sara was a sore loser and refused but agreed to make Blake a sandwich instead. The order was very particular and he mentioned he needed one more thing. As she stomped to the door to ask him what else, Blake was down on one knee on the camper step. After planning this moment for the past year, Blake's proposal was "Would you make me the happiest man in the world and be my Hodag partner for life?" It was perfect in every way and we had the best 5 days of celebration ever!