After Tonia realized she couldn't bend steel, she gave up her dreams of becoming Wonder Woman and set her sights on becoming a Math Teacher. She met Mike in college at a birthday party. After ten years in St. Cloud, Mike got a job as a civil technician in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, so they moved into her childhood home and they've lived ever since. In 1994 Tonia signed up to volunteer for the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. Her little sister Heather now lives in New York (but she doesn't hold that against her, either.) Most people are surprised to learn Tonia took shop for six years in school—she's even made her own cedar chest and scrapbooking cabinet.