let's try it again

Alright, so clearly I'm not good at blogging at all. BUT, I'm going to try this summer!!!!!

I finished up my sophomore year of college and my second semester was the best thus far academically!! I'm so excited about my grades and it makes me excited because I know I have truly found something I want to do.

Also, this year rocked with my new roommates!! So much better than last year and a lot more fun for sure! We've established a little routine and it's really going well!

Right now, I'm currently working at the rec, coaching 9-11 year old girls softball, and supervising ballfields. I literally work 7 days a week. CRAZINESS!

oops

I suck at blogging..

so classes start on Tuesday for second semester.. I'm SO ready to be back in a routine/trying to establish a "normal" routine. my schedule is going to be CRAZY with 5 classes, at least 14 hrs (in one department) at work, and coaching. In case anyone is curious, I'm taking...

• Leisure and the Liberal Arts
• Personal Training
• Advanced Sport and Exercise Psychology
• Sociology
• Interpretation of Lit 

speaking of coaching, who woulda thought I would be coaching boys basketball AND enjoying it (for the most part)?! my boys are so fun and they're so concerned with my hand it's ridiculously cute and sweet! tell don't like me standing because they feel as though I will make it worse. it was kinda funny because right after they told me that I ended up almost falling because I tripped on a bench.. OOPS! Saturday was a great game! I would say we won by quite a bit and I was SO proud of their teamwork and sportsmanship! we have some things to work on with fundamentals and such but hey, it'll get there. tonight was NOT a good practice, though. I think they are just testing the waters because I'm a girl coaching a boys team. but if you know me you know I don't put up with that stuff!

my hand situation still sucks as it's still really painful but it's still attached so I guess that's a plus! although this brace that immobilizes my whole hand minus my fingers has gotten real old, real fast. but hopefully it will all get straightened out soon.

BUT! everyone should go check out my best friend's blog..

http://eminwashingtondc.blogspot.com 

Emily got a crazy cool internship where she is working in the Senate all of second semester! keep up to do date with her life and adventures, too :)

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 :)