I’m Jennifer Elyse Blaser (nee Jackson), but everyone usually calls me Jenni. I’m a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormon church.

I was born April 19, 1978. I’m the youngest of seven children. I have five sisters and one brother. I also have 12 nieces, 16 nephews, seven great-nieces, and one great-nephew.

My family moved around quite a bit when I was young. Before I was married, I had moved eight times. Although I’ve lived in Utah most of my life, I did live in Decatur, Illinois for a couple of years.

While I was in elementary school, I had the opportunity to be in a Spanish Immersion program for four years. The only time I was allowed to speak English while at school was during recess, gym class, and when I learned how to read.

Because of this opportunity, I have a love for languages. Since learning Spanish, I have taken classes in French, Russian, and Japanese. Out of all the languages I’ve studied, Japanese is my favorite. I love to write using the Japanese writing systems (hiragana, katakana, and kanji) and I love to speak the language. I’d like the opportunity to visit Japan more than anything else.

I used to hate reading. In fact, I avoided it at all costs and I can count the number of books I read in high school on one hand. It wasn’t until I read the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling that I started to somewhat enjoy reading. The true catalyst for my love of reading, however, was the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer, which I first read in June 2007. Thanks to the wonderful world she created, I now enjoy reading more than any of my other hobbies.  I enjoy reading books in the fantasy, romance, science fiction, historical fiction, mystery, thriller, and adventure genres the most. However, since I’m fairly new to reading, I’m sure other genres will pique my interest as well.

Corey and I met in a single’s ward in Smithfield, Utah. We were friends for nearly five months before we went on our one and only date in December 1997. We ate dinner at A&W and saw Tomorrow Never Dies. We were unofficially engaged the second week of January 1998 and became officially engaged on February 11, 1998 when he gave me my ring. We were married March 14, 1998 in the Logan LDS Temple.

Corey was born November 16, 1975. He’s the oldest of three children. He has one sister and one brother. He also has three nieces.

We don’t have any kids.  But, we do have three cats, even though Corey grew up in a dog-loving/cat-hating family. (I’ve converted him. He’d rather have a cat than a dog now. ) Their names are Cassinova Felix (Cassie), Tigris Euphrates (Tigger), and Daxius Cattius Kill-’em-us All-of-us (Dax).

I graduated from Snow College as Cum Laude with an Associate of Arts degree in 1999. I attended BYU in 2000, but I had to quit school, so I could work full-time to help meet our financial needs while Corey dealt with health problems that prevented him from working.  (You can read the semi-full story in the My Take on Obama’s Health Plan post.)

I returned to BYU in January 2010.  I plan to graduate in April or December 2013 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, emphasizing in creative writing, and a minor in editing.  I’d like to use my degree to become a freelance copyeditor for new authors.

Currently, I work for Henry Schein Practice Solutions, formerly known as Dentrix Dental Systems, Inc., a division of Henry Schein, Inc. Dentrix is a practice management software for dental offices. I was in the Support department for Dentrix from August 1999 to June 2003. I worked my way from a temporary employee to a level-4 support technician, which is the highest level before becoming a team leader.

From June 2003 to June 2007, I worked in the Training department as the Certification/Curriculum Training Specialist. In this role, I developed the certification curriculum for the trainer certification program. I traveled a lot while doing this and as a result, I’ve made a lot of friends around the country.

From June 2007 to June 2010, I became a technical writer in the Practice Education department. As a technical writer, I write training documentation for seminars and office training for all products managed by Henry Schein Practice Solutions. I’ve also written user manuals for products managed by Henry Schein Practice Solutions.

As of June 2010, I moved to the Coaching department.  I’m a Profitability Account Manager and I coach dental offices on how to be more profitable using the resources and information in their software.  I also help develop the curriculum for the coaching topics.

I’ve received two awards since working for Henry Schein, Inc. I received the Support Tech of the Year award in 2001 and the Team Schein Award in 2003.

My Interests

I enjoy reading, writing, blogging, listening to music, watching movies and TV, going to school, playing games, surfing the Internet, crocheting, knitting, playing the piano, web-page design, learning and speaking foreign languages, origami, and hanging out with my family and friends.

My favorite bands are Linkin Park, Green Day, System of a Down, Muse, Coldplay, The Cranberries, Angels & Airwaves, Blink-182, Fall Out Boy, Death Cab for Cutie, and New Kids on the Block. I also like Enya and Michael Crawford. My interest in the aforementioned bands has only been in the last eight or so years (other than NKOTB, Enya, and Michael Crawford).  Before that, I only listened to movie scores, which I still love.  My favorite composers are John Williams, James Horner, Danny Elfman, and Hans Zimmer.

My favorite TV shows are 24, Bones, Fringe, NCIS, Burn Notice, Futurama, and Family Guy.  However, I only watch 24, Bones, and Fringe religiously.

My favorite actor is Ewan McGregor.  Not only do I think he’s handsome, but I also think he’s a wonderful actor and singer. I don’t really have a favorite actress, but I do like Emily and Zooey Deschanel a lot. My favorite movies are the Indiana Jones series, the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, Star Wars Saga, Clue, Moulin Rouge, Down With Love, Lilo & Stitch, and Galaxy Quest.

My favorite books are the Twilight Saga, the Harry Potter series, The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, the Mortal Instruments trilogy, Graceling, Fire, Shiver, Linger, The Dark Divine, The Host, The Dragon Prince trilogy, Dune, These is My Words, His Dark Materials trilogy, You Are Special, and Fox in Socks.

My favorite authors are (in alphabetical order) Kristin Cashore, Cassandra Clare, Suzanne Collins, Stephenie Meyer, Melanie Rawn, JK Rowling, and Maggie Stiefvater.  I also enjoy reading Mary Higgins Clark, but I don’t feel like I can count her as a favorite author because none of her books are considered a favorite.

Last Updated: August 8, 2010

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