Meet the Newlyweds Jenny & Dave

Meet the newlyweds Jenny (JayBee) and Dave a dog loving couple from Minnesota.  And guess what they each have a blog, love that!  Jenny’s blog The Balow Bunch is a journal of sorts, that chronicles the fun happenings of their lives, thankful lists, pets and sweet little babies.  Dave’s blog is a running blog called A journey on my Second Marathon, first off let me say congrats on your first marathon that is incredible, as you guessed this blog is about his training, tips for running, and how the process is going.  Without further ado let Meet the Newlyweds.

Wedding date: June 24, 2006

Blog: Me: http://jbalow.blogspot.com Dave: http://trainingfortherun.blogspot.com

How did you meet? We met through a mutual friend, Heather. She was one of my best childhood friends and she went to college for a couple of years in the city that Dave lived in before she moved back to our hometown. We met while he was home on leave from the Army and we both went to Heather’s house to hang out.

When did you know he was the one? My heart knew he was the one the night I met him – but it took three different events for my brain to listen to my heart. First, the night we met, I was drawn to how easy it was for me to talk to him. I’m pretty shy, so I was surprised by how comfortable I was around him and how much we had in common. Second, on the night I found out he was being deployed to Iraq (we had only known each other for 4 months), I almost slipped and said, “I love you,” when we were talking on the phone. I stopped myself and ended up saying, “I lo-miss you.” Dave was sleepy and didn’t notice, but I couldn’t believe what I saying without thinking. Hindsight, I know I said it because I was speaking from my heart. Third, after I spoke to Dave for the last time as he was being deployed, I broke down and couldn’t control my emotions. I was never very emotional, but that morning I couldn’t stop crying. Those tears forced my brain to really listen to my heart and I was finally convinced that he was the man I was going to spend my life with.

What is one of your favorite things to do together? We love spending time together as a family (us and our two dogs and cat). During the summer, we love going to dog parks so we can enjoy the outdoors. Our babies look so content and free running around off-leash. The other thing we do is have “family time,” which consists of Dave and I cuddling on the couch and all the pets are on top of us – one big family cuddle while we watch TV or a movie.

What is something new you learned about your spouse after you were married? Family is my husband’s number one priority. I knew this before we were married, but I’m more aware and more appreciative of it now. The biggest example is that he works full-time (usually more than 40 hours/week) and also goes to school full-time. Many times I’m sure he’d like to quit school and just work, but he wants to finish his degree so that we can be good role models for our future children and be able to provide them with as financially stable of an environment as possible. Becoming parents is what we most look forward to as being married and he’s already working hard to be the best dad he can be. And next spring he will be graduating!

What do you do to stay connected during everyday stresses of life? We call each other a couple of times during the day, usually when one of us is driving. We also email and text.

What is your best piece of marriage advice? Treat your spouse the way you want to be treated. Sounds easy, but I struggle with it sometimes. Usually it’s when he makes plans to hang out with the guys and I don’t want him to leave. But it’s something that I’m getting better at!

What is your favorite quirk about your husband? I love watching him play with our dogs. He loves talking to them and getting down on the floor to play with them. He also picks up Otis and sings and dances with him (our other dog Cooper is too big for that).

What is something special you do just for your husband? I do his laundry. Sometimes. But I don’t do laundry for anyone else. It’s something that I detest doing, but I do it for him anyway just because I love him.

Tell us something about yourself. I love living in Minnesota, but I hate winter. Especially when it’s April and you wake up to snow on the ground (which just happened Sunday). It says spring on the calendar, but the weather is a different reality. But I’m hopeful that warm weather will be here to stay soon!

I hope you all come back for next weeks rendition of Meet the Newlyweds.   If you would like to be featured or know of another Newlywed blogger, please leave me a comment or email me.