Jennifer Garner

Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck Fight in a 'Loving and Adult Way'

09/21/2007 at 04:00 PM EDT

One reason Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck are such a good match? They're both nice, according to the actress.

"I don't know what makes [the relationship] work. But it does," she tells Marie Claire magazine in its current issue. "One thing that makes it not not work is that we're both pretty nice."

When it comes to getting over the inevitable marital spats, she says they both keep a level head. "[Ben] is not someone who's ever going to blow up on anyone," says Garner. "What I mean is, if he's ever angry with me, he doesn't act out on it in a weird way or yell at me. And I am the same. So we can handle conflict in a very loving and adult way."

Another reason the couple gel so well is their love of family – and they both wish they could be closer to their relatives, who live on the other side of the country from Hollywood.

"I can't live in West Virginia and do what I do – I'm not going to get lots of jobs there," Garner, 35, tells the magazine. "It bums us out. We haven't figured it out yet."

Not that their own family life is lacking. Garner and Affleck, both 35, who have Violet, 22 months, "definitely wonder what it would be like to have another" baby, though they haven't decided when. "Hopefully, knock on wood, someday," is all Garner will say.

Until then, the couple are enjoying being a trio. "She's pretty awesome," Garner says of Violet. "We're in that sweet spot before the terrible twos. She sleeps until 7 a.m. Yeah, we lucked out."

On the career front – Garner currently stars in The Kingdom with Jamie Foxx and Jason Bateman – she's grateful she can balance her job with motherhood.

"My job is great to have as a mom. I get to take long breaks and then work hard in a really concentrated way," she says. "During that concentrated time, it sucks, but whatever."



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