08.22.2026

We met during a camping trip for incoming freshman at UWEC in August 2019. We quickly became best friends and made other friendships that would shape our time in college. Christine waited a few weeks to make the first move that would begin our story together. For our first date, Joe biked for an hour to get supplies for a picnic at Big Falls waterfall, where he also fell into the water.

We went to Iceland, one of our bucket list places to visit, where Christine had the entire trip planned to the minute. Yet, Christine thought nothing of it when Joe wanted to see a different waterfall that morning than originally planned, or when he was so nervous he didn't sleep the night before, or when he forgot to put the car in park, or when a photographer was conveniently taking photos of the waterfall as a "tourist". Joe still surprised her, and it was the perfect spot to promise to be together forever. We spent the rest of the day taking photos at a black sand beach, ice cave exploring, and horseback riding.