midterm madness

Last time I blogged I told you I would keep you updated and then school was like "LOL, nope." Things got really crazy around here and I had so many tests and midterms and papers it was insane!! The good thing is, I've gotten almost all of them all done except for one midterm on Tuesday and part of a paper due in a couple of weeks! AND, I'm almost done with my coaching class! Hooray!! I only have 9 units (4 tests and 1 assignment) left of my coaching authorization class to obtain my coaching license. It's very exciting!

Other than midterms and schoolwork, life is just swell. Hawks are doing well on the field and I'm keeping myself occupied with many different activities and fun things. Weekends are crazy busy with visitors or work.

Work is keeping me verrrrrrrry busy. I can't remember if I mentioned it in my last post, but I work at the coralville rec center as a rec associate. Basically I make sure kids are following the rules and such and if they aren't I have to deal with it. It's really beneficial because I get a lot of homework done there!!

I recently found out I was paired with a little sister in the Big Brother/Big Sister program through Johnson county! I am so excited to meet her, which is hopefully within the next couple weeks!!

Just the same ol' Ashton, keeping wayyy too busy for her own good :)

Here are some pics to tide you over.

sophomore year.

sooo it's sophomore year already and this is the first time I've blogged. oopssssss. 

quick recap for ya..

I live with Katarina, Jake, and Ryan in an apartment off campus. it's about a mile walk from campus one way, so it's not bad. basically it's a great living situation and much better than it was last year!

classes this semester include Human Physiology, Physical Activity and Health, Sport and Exercise Psychology, and Clinical Psychology. I recently changed my major from Health and Human Physiology: Health Studies (premed) to Leisure Studies: Recreation and Sport Business: Fitness Management with a minor in Physical Activity and Nutrition Science. it's pretty exciting and something I've been thinking about doing for awhile so I think it was a great decision! I'm also getting my coaching certification in pursuit of a freshman coaching job here in IC. fingers crossed I finish the class in a timely manner, pass the test, and get the job!

hawkeye football is off to a great start!! my roommates and I really like going to games, but not really the 3+ mile round trip we have to make on our feet to get there. this weekend is homecoming so that'll be pretty exciting. go hawks!! I went and visited Marissa for the Iowa/Iowa State game this year and that was super fun!!!! it was even more fun because I was one of two hawk fans in a huge group of cyclones and the hawks won! Definitely looking forward to her visiting me this month :) 

okay I PROMISE I will try my hardest not to neglect this blog as much as I have. I will try my very hardest!!

neglected again

SORRY!!

I don't mean to always get on a blogging spree and then stop! But things have been highly uneventful here, which is really good.

I guess the only highlight was my knee situation so here's what happened yesterday.

I had a good idea as to what bus I needed to take to get all the way up to sports med, which is about 2.5/3 miles off of campus. I had never taken that route before so I was definitely going to leave earlier than expected! I decided to take the 8:30a bus to get to my appt before 10a. So I was like okay, that should give me plenty of time. BOY, WAS I RIGHT! I got to sports med at 8:40!!! So I just stayed on the bus for another loop because that was wayyy to early for me to go sit in a waiting room.

So I got there the second time about 9:30a which was fine. So I got there, got all checked in and took my survey stuff on the computer. They do the electronic version of the annoying questions about family history, which was kinda cool but it felt like a test and I felt like I shouldn't contact my mommy for the answers. :)

But I learned that sports med is always ahead! I saw the doctor right at 10:15, and that was after x-rays, blood pressure, and the doctor's assistant's exam! woohooo!

I ended up NOT tearing or ripping anything, which is good I guess, but it sucks because I have been doing treatments for that aka wearing a leg immobilizer for the last month and a half!!!!! UGH. The new diagnosis is called Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome, a syndrome where your muscles and bones get out of sync with each other, causing a lot of pain, locking, and giving out of my knee. For treatment, I have to head out to sports med x2 a week or every 10 days (depending on my progress) for physical therapy, which will make it better. The only way to totally get rid of it is to keep working at it everyday to keep my muscles strengthened and healthy.

So that's about all that's new. Better get back to paying attention in health class! ;)

dance marathon photos/videos

ready to go!

Herky!

we were a bit tired..

during power hour

total raised!

knee before

knee after

Why do YOU dance?

Before dance marathon (dm), if someone would have asked me why I danced, I probably would've just put "for the kids,"which is NOT a bad response at all! I just didn't know what I would've put because I knew why there was dance marathon, I just didn't know why I personally danced. During the middle of dance marathon, it hit me as to why I dance!

I dance for more smiles and to create hope for a better tomorrow for the kids who have nothing to look forward to. I dance because I know how it feels to lose a loved one to this nasty illness and no one should have to lose a loved one, whether they're young or old.

Some people had told me that in the middle of the night it was the hardest time to stay awake and keep going and they were SO right! You are so tired, your back aches, your (my) knee is so filled with fluid, you can't see the sun, the kids are gone, and you really question what made you do it. It was then when I remembered what an anonymous person had texted me the night before. "Just remember how proud your grandma would be to see you raising money for such a cause and know that you standing for 24 hours, even if it hurts, is better than the pain the family could go through when their loved one dies.. you know what that's like. You know that she is looking down at you with that little smirk that she had because she's so proud of you!" Such powerful words from someone who means so much to me! At 3am you really need a boost and that was just what I needed, it definitely pushed me to dance harder and longer because it is easier than losing someone. Even if it was so hard to keep going, at least I could see the light at the end of the tunnel! For those kids, they don't know how long they will be fighting this nasty disease, at least I knew when I was going to be done. I would do dance marathon x20 longer than lose someone I loved again.

After 6am, you are golden. You are so set the last half just cruises on by! The kids start coming in for the day, locks of love is happening (which two girls shaved their heads), there are many games and performers, family speakers are happening in full force again, you get more food!, and you can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.. kinda! On Saturday morning, I checked my phone quite deeply (snapchats, emails, responded to texts, facebook, etc.) when I stumbled across a snapchat from Natalie! It was definitely good motivation to finish out the marathon!!

At 9am on Saturday, we got to go take a 15 minute nap with big pillows and bean bags! It was so lovely. But then after, we had to go into a room called "dancing in our hearts" to remember fallen children to cancer. I didn't want to go into that room at all, it's too early. But I went through but I couldn't bring myself to read the stories, I just looked at the pictures. It was still really hard to just look at pictures because you knew why you were looking at the pictures.

I was getting so so tired about 1pm on Saturday, just 5 hours until I was all done and able to sit, when I saw a teenage girl in a wheel chair. I decided to go over and chat with her and dance with her since nobody else would. It was an amazing experience I will never forget! She was so happy I went over and danced with her! We danced and sang and laughed, we had a great time! :) I talked with her parents a little bit and they said I was the first person to come over and interact with her! That was really a touching moment that I was that one person that made her smile, that one person who her parents said was the only reason she wanted to stay until the end. It was really touching! She thought it was extra cool that I had a slight disability, like her wheelchair. She had asked me if my leg hurt and lying to her I said, nope not at all! She had asked if she could touch it or if that would hurt and it would, but it'd be nothing compared to what she was going through so I opened my brace so she could touch it. She thought that was so cool!

The last family speaker of the event had just lost their child last month, but they were brave enough to speak at the big event, which was awesome! They had so much bravery and courage to get up and talk after just losing their child, I don't think I could have done that. In my opinion, I would have put them on the schedule in the afternoon on Saturday to give us on last big push, but they're story was still very touching.

Dance marathon was such a life-changing experience.. I can't wait until next year! In the next week I'll post pictures and videos :)

winter storm

Last week, we got quite the winter storm! I'm not going to blog much about it except pictures because you all don't care, you just want dance marathon postS! :) (yes, two)

bloggin' in class

..okay, technically class hasn't started so hold your harsh comments about me slacking off and not paying attention!

I just participated in a research study in the psychology department here. Although I cannot tell you all of the specifics, all I had to do was answer questions for about 40 minutes. It was pretty fun!

I have to participate in 8 credits of those studies OR I have to write 8 papers for my psychology class. so basically, I'm participating in 8 studies! :)

That was my excitement for the day except for falling down some steps and having a nice looking fella help me up! but that's not excitement.. that's pain.

I don't think I've mentioned on here, but tomorrow I'm participating in Dance Marathon! If you want to learn more about it, click this link: http://dancemarathon.uiowa.edu/home/home-page-features/about-dance-marathon/ 

If you want to donate to my dancer page to help kids with cancer, click this link: https://osl.iowa.uiowa.edu/dancemarathon/donate/4/7347.

Look for that blog post sometime this weekend or next week! :)

winter weather woes

Cons to winter and having a leg brace (that I'm experiencing anyway) and solutions:

• it is wet outside
• you must carefully choose your outfit centered around your shoes that day. Shoes must have a  lot of traction.
• it is dry inside
• you must carefully choose your outfit centered around your shoes that day. Shoes MUST have a lot of traction. 
• you must be VERY careful when walking inside as you are hauling around your leg and it is slippery outside. 
• STEPS.
• steps get its own bullet point because they are very dangerous. 
• TAKE THE ELEVATOR!!
• side note: I did almost slip down the steps today and fall. luckily, I caught myself and all is well :)
• time 
• it takes a lot more time to go places because you aren't just hauling a leg around, it is sketchy conditions outside. therefore, leave 10 minutes earlier and TAKE YOUR TIME!!  
• side note: I have not fallen on the ice.. yet.

That's all I've got so far.. happy monday!!

A BLOG POST!

I know you all are SUPER shocked to see my posting a blog but it's true!

Okay Christmas break recap: it was really long! I got to see A LOT of my friends and people I wanted to. It helps when I work because I just love seeing those elderly people! And also, I LOVE MY JOB! It is so hard leaving there after break but I know I'll be back. :)

My friends and I had a lot of opportunities to hangout and have fun.. which we did! We always have fun and it makes me even more thankful that I have them to come back to after break because they are like my world! I'm really looking forward to summer where I can have 3 whole months with them!!

The down part of break was definitely the knee incident. This summer I had fell and injured my knee in my garage the day before state softball. I didn't really think anything of it because it didn't really hurt right away. Well it started getting worse and worse so I had an MRI done over break and it showed that I have a patellar tendon rip. They told me to keep using it and it will improve but it was making it worse. So now I'm in this really stylish leg brace until spring break. woohoooo. (feel the excitement)

I also got some new glasses over break! Here are a few random photos from my time at home:

My parents and grandparents had brought me back last weekend so they could go to the Iowa/Wisconsin basketball game. All was fine and dandy until my dad got really sick! So they had to leave like right away on Sunday. And by quick I mean my mom and I were in Target for maybe 20 minutes!! It was insane! I didn't really want to spend all day Sunday at home, so my second family, The Murphy's, invited me to stay at their house so I could go to the women's game (the busses weren't running) and hangout with them and my other friends! It was really fun! I'm so blessed to have such great people in my life that are willing to take me in!

This last Tuesday is when I started my classes. I really like them so far! They are going to be pretty tough but that's okay.. I like a good challenge! I'm taking Principles of Chemistry 1, Math for the Biological Sciences, Nutrition and Health, and Elementary Psychology. Nutrition and Psychology are going to be my favorites, I can already tell! I really like getting out of class at 12:30 on Mondays/Wednesdays and 11:30 on Fridays. ;) Tuesdays and Thursdays make up for it, though, as I don't get out of class until 5. So I'm not completely slacking!