Q: When did you graduate from Bluffton High School?

A: 1995

Q: What did you do after high school?

A: I went to The Ohio Institute of Photography and Technology in Moraine (near Dayton). OIP&T is a tech school and doesn't have dorms, so I got an apartment with someone from my school and got a job at Bravo! Italian Kitchen as a hostess for the first couple years and then was promoted to banquet manager.

Q: What made you decide to settle in Bluffton?

A: I left Bluffton with no intention of ever coming back, until I met the love of my life. Christian (my fianc'e at the time) was going to Miami University and was looking into switching majors and going into pharmacy. As he was looking into pharmacy schools, he found this school called ONU. Hmm.....close to "Jamie's family". Christian loved the fact that most of my family lives in this area. His family is abroad and he wanted to have family near us. So, I shocked my family, and came back home.

Q: Tell me about your family.

A: I have three boys. Eden, who was born on Dec. 25, 2002, is six years old. Yes folks, he was a Christmas baby. My entire pregnancy I claimed that I was not going to have a Christmas baby, and lo and behold guess what happened to me? (Do you see a theme happening here in my life?) Eden is a real sweet kid. He reminds me a lot of my dad. He is very sensitive and loves animals. He also does very well with his new baby brother.

Erik was born almost 22 months later after Eden and is almost five. He is a stubborn and very determined little boy who loves to ask a lot of questions, especially the question "Why." He does not have a volume control button and is known for being very goofy and ornery. Erik is a lot like me.

Ezra, my little guy, is now seven months old and was born Feb. 24. He looks just like Eden and Erik. We hear that they all three look exactly alike. It is a bit frightening, because their baby pictures are very similar! Ezra is a very content baby who brings such peace and contentment into our home. His smile just makes any argument end and his giggle just puts a smile on your own face. We just need to work on sleeping through the night...

Christian, my fourth boy, is a very dedicated, faithful and loving father, husband and best friend to me. He is a pharmacist for Lima Memorial Hospital and also picks up shifts every now and then at St. Vincent's in Toledo. He can come across as very quiet and reserved but definitely breaks out of his shell when he's with family. He's a family man and that is one of the things I love about him most!

Q: How did you meet Christian?

A: Christian was the new hot looking server at the restaurant that I was working at while in photography school. Everyone wanted to date him, but I seemed to catch his eye the most. He asked me out, and the rest is history.

Q: You have a son in first grade now; what do you remember about your elementary school years?

A: Recess. Gym with Mrs. Persinger. Spraying my body down with "cootie spray" before square dancing with any boy in gym. Walking on the shiny line. Mrs. Grigg's (sixth grade) purple high heel shoes. Learning computers on the old Macs. Music with our long time sub when Mrs. Caskie had cancer. I can't think of her name for the life of me, but she was awesome! She played "You can call me Al" by Simon and Garfunkel.

Q: Who was your favorite teacher in school?

A: Elementary school it was Mr. Amstutz. In high school it was Mrs. Garmon.

Q: Did you ever have your card taken down in Mr. A's class?

A: I don't believe so.

Q:What do you most enjoy doing now with your family?

Traveling and going on vacation.

Q: Tell me about your photography business. What kind of camera are you using right now?

A: Well, I really didn't get active in my business until a couple years ago. I didn't have the confidence that I could be good enough and do it. But I just kept getting out and doing more, and the more I did, the more confident I became. I really try to limit my time doing photography though as it can really suck up a lot of time, and my priority right now is being a stay-at-home mom. I'd love to shoot more, but that will just have to wait until later.

I limit myself to three weddings a year and do family, children and senior pictures. I also shoot for Bluffton University, which I would say is one of my favorite jobs. They hire me to photograph anything from artwork around the University to President James Harder and his wife, Dr. Karen Klassen Harder. I do enjoy shooting weddings too, which initially I hated as it is a lot of pressure and stress, but I've let that go and learned to just love the chance to catch some amazing moments and use the creativity that God has blessed me with to capture the day in a way that most people wouldn't see.

The camera I am using now is a Nikon D700.

Q: Who took your senior photo? Wedding photos?

A: Some dude in North Baltimore (took my senior photos). I remember he took Laura Edwards' and Katie Chappell's and I loved the creativity that he used in theirs, so I wanted him to do the same with mine. I can't recall his name. Michael Ayers from Lima took my wedding pictures. He is an amazing wedding photographer. Simply amazing.

Q: When did you know you wanted to be a photographer?

A: I would say when I was in high school. I submitted a photo of mine to a magazine and won third prize or something and it got me to stop and think maybe I had something.

Q: I know you travel to Denmark at least every other year. Tell us about those trips - why you go, who you visit, where you stay. What do you remember about the first time you visited? When will you go again?

A: Christian's father is from Denmark and owns two summer houses off of the Baltic Sea that have been in their family for many years. So we have been blessed to have a place to stay every time we go. And not to mention it is right off the Baltic. You literally fall asleep hearing the waves crashing on the beach. But besides Christian's dad being from Denmark, his grandmother, aunt and cousins live there as well.

The first time I went was in February of 2000. That is the last time I will go in February. It is bitterly cold, and a beach house is just not the same when the Arctic winds of the Baltic are nailing you in the face at full speed. We typically go every other year in the month of July. In July, they have free festivals in some small towns for the kids to do a bunch of things and it's a bit warmer than February. However, the weather still can be a bit chilly. We pack everything from tank tops to sweaters when we go to Denmark, and we wear everything.

We are planning to go for three weeks in July of next year. I refuse to go for less than two weeks as it is painful to adjust small children and yourself to a six-hour time change! We are really looking forward to it and can't wait!

Q: You're known as a fairly independent person, taking trips at the drop of a hat with the boys by yourself. Not everyone would have that kind of "chutzpah." Have you always had that adventurous spirit? Where does it come from?

A: Have I always had this adventurous spirit? Are you kidding me? Yes! I recall one summer in high school I went to Camp Friedenswald for a week, came home, left the next day for a week with friends to Michigan, came home, left the next day to Washington, D.C. for a week. I barely gave my mom time to catch up on laundry! I get this spontaneity from my mother.

She and I still will go on a road trip at the drop of a hat. I'm not much of an organized person, so it doesn't take much planning for me to go on road trips. Just my van, my boys, my Blackberry and a destination. And sometimes...we head to one destination and get detoured to another. That's the fun of it all.

Q: How did you feel when your oldest went off to first grade?

A: Isn't it weird to know that you went to school (sort of) with his teacher? It was much harder sending Eden off to first grade than it was sending him to kindergarten. Much harder. I am not one who cries when her kids gets shots, or heads out to a new adventure. I know that this is the best for them and they will be fine.

But, taking Eden to school on his first day of first grade was different. I got into my van after I dropped him off and just cried. It was the first time I really started to see that my boys are growing up and things are never going to be how they used to be. Years of having them all home with me all day or at least most of the day was over. That was really hard to accept.

However, it is very comforting to know that Eden has Ryan, I mean Mr. Dunlap, as his teacher. Ryan was quite a bit younger than me in school but was and is good friends with my brother. They went to high school and college together. So Eden was so excited to have Uncle Josh's good friend as his teacher.

Q: What's on your list of things you want to do?

A: Wow. That's a great question. Present time: Enjoy every minute and not take for granted any time with my boys and also to get away for a long weekend to Chicago with my husband without the boys. Future: Get more serious with my photography business and look into opening a studio. Run a 5K. Make photo books of my boys.