Dave & Jim

We met through our church, and our faith has been an important part of our relationship ever since. We connected over shared values and hopes for the future, even though our personalities are different in the best ways. Dave is calm, steady, thoughtful, and always finding fun. Jim is creative, curious, and usually dreaming up ideas. We balance each other and bring out the best.

We've been married since 2018. Life took us from Boston to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York before we chose Minnesota, near Jim's family, to raise our family. Our church community has become part of our roots too, celebrating with us, supporting our family, and helping us pass along the values we grew up with.

We still love doing life together. We make each other laugh, tease each other often, and know we're at our best as a team— solving a problem, handling bedtime, or trying to convince our 2-year old daughter, Cole, to pick up her toys.

We've worked hard to build a life rooted in love and time together, and we're excited to share it with another child.

We live in a close-knit Minneapolis suburb where kids play outside, neighbors stop to talk, and a high quality public elementary school is just a mile down the road. Our home is lively, with music playing, toys underfoot, and friends and family stopping by. Mornings often start with our daughter eating a banana between us on the couch while we wave at neighbors passing the front window. Later, we might walk to see the ducks, pick tomatoes from our garden, or grill with friends. Evenings mean family dinner, bath time, prayers, books in silly voices, and eventually the two of us watching Survivor.

Our dog, Cisco, is part of the family too. She’s a sweet, playful Lab-Whippet mix rescued from Puerto Rico who follows us from room to room and is incredibly gentle and cuddly.

We both come from large, close-knit families, including four grandparents, five siblings, seven nieces and nephews, and 25 cousins—a huge group of people excited to welcome another child. Our daughter’s daycare even jokes about how many people show up to support her! Even when we're far apart, we stay close through calls, FaceTime, group texts, and regular visits.

Our friends are family too, many raising their kids alongside ours. We rotate between neighborhood backyards while the kids play and the adults catch up, take wagon rides to the playground, spend weekends at our cabin, and celebrate traditions like family Halloween costumes and our annual Christmas cookie decorating party. There's rarely a shortage of people around to share a meal, lend a hand, or celebrate something together.

Our curious, outgoing daughter is already excited to become a big sister. We picture her teaching her little sibling where to find the ducks on the pond, how to sing "Do-Re-Mi," and how to give Cisco a hug. From day one, your child will have a whole crowd of people eager to know them, cheer for them, celebrate who they are, and love them for the rest of their life.

Some of our favorite adventures happen at our family cabin on a lake in northern Minnesota, where summer means pontoon rides, campfires, and staying up late enough to see the stars. We also love concerts, road trips, visiting family around the country, and playing billiards together—something we both learned through pickup games in bars and now enjoy playing with our parents in our basement.

We believe adventure is more about curiosity than taking a big trip. Sometimes it's a Saturday drive to a small town, discovering a new park, or cooking a new recipe. We want our kids to grow up curious—to read, explore, ask a million questions, discover what they love, and know we'll be right there encouraging them and learning alongside them.