The Foot Story

To start from the beginning... I have been walking, running and mostly dancing on a fractured foot for  over a year. I know I am a bit crazy! My foot started hurting back in September 2012, when I came to BYU I was working with my Dance Trainer twice a week doing deep tissue massage and different exercises to help strengthen what I thought was just tendon or ligament issues. But nothing was helping... it was not getting better at all! It was time to go in and see a doctor. So I was able to meet with a doctor back in October 2013 and they took X-rays. I couldn't believe that the bone was cracked in half, the X-ray could have been analyzed by a 5 year old it was so clear. It was so crazy to see my bone just chilling in my foot, BROKEN! My doctor suggested we do surgery by December but I wanted to continue to dance so I said I would rather have it done in Winter semester or after. Besides I would be going to China for 10 days dancing with my BYU Contemporary Dance Company!

{my CDT family in China}

My next appointment was made with my surgeon. Dr. Robert Faux. He said that while he was studying my Xray and MRI that he noticed that the bone that was broken was actually DEAD! This is called osteonecrosis! This usually happens only with elderly people... this was fun news to learn! NOT!

{my foot when it was scarless}

I made the best of the rest of the year and my time with my dance company. The surgery was finally scheduled for the last day of Finals... haha what a reward for finishing school! I got surgery Wednesday, April 23. I had to be at the surgery center by 5:00 AM! Early Morning! They put me under so that they could remove the bone completely (sesamoidectomy). There was nothing added to my foot to replace the bone just because it is a minor bone (lateral sesamoid). But the surgery was a success! I was in and out of the surgery center which was nice! 

{before the surgery}

Like most people when waking up from anesthesia, I was saying some funny things Austin (my husband) said. The first thing I said to him was "Shut up, I'm sleeping"...then I guess I kept asking for Chapstick over and over again hahaha! 

{after surgery... out of it}

{my bones, they didn't let me keep them I was so mad}

{my bone broken into two pieces}

We headed home and I was to stay on the couch for 3 days with my foot up so I was sure to check out lots of movies from the library! Austin took such good care of me! I love him so much! 

 {musicals, ballets, classics... thank you BYU library}

    {3 days like this with my movies}

{we played quite a few games and I was on FIRE even on pain pills}

{what a sweetheart helping me get ready for a bath}

10 days after the surgery I am up and walking around, I got my stitches out today too! It was so fun to see my whole foot and the cool scare I will have forever on the bottom of my foot! My doctor said every thing looks pretty great! I just have to take it easy and wait for a while to get back into the dancing scene again!

{crutches are my armpits enemy but I am grateful to be out and about instead of on the couch}

{super cool scar}

I am so grateful for all of the help and support I have been give through this little pain in my life! 

Thanks everyone that helped and checked up on me!

~Ashes~

Summer is around the corner!

Winter semester is almost over! Today is my last day, one final left tonight and it shouldn't be so bad! It will feel so great to be done with yet another semester of college! Austin and I are so excited to hang out and enjoy summer this year. We don't have much planned but we love begin able to spend time outside on our bikes or hang out with great friends! We might take a couple trips home to see our families too! 

So this past Sunday was so awesome, one of my favorite Sunday's I think that I have had here in my ward. I am currently the Primary President of my ward and I love this calling so much! If you are not familiar with this... basically I get to be with all of the babies of the ward 16 months old to 4 years old and teach them about the gospel! This Sunday was especially special because it was Easter. I had Austin come and assist me along with my counselor and her husband (the husbands were so excited to be in there and playing plus they got to have snack time with the kids... perks of being in primary). So we played with the kids for a bit then we had a short lesson about what Easter is all about. The only way the kids would listen to the lesson was if they had their fake play phone and we acted like we were talking on the phone with them... Hilarious really! After the lesson one of the little girls actually said, "ok I have to go now, I have to make a call!" So she pretended to dial another number and this is what she said, "Hello Jesus, hi it's Miley! How are you?" This was so cute. We asked her if that was how she usually talked to Jesus. We tried to teach her that actually it is that simple, if we ever need to talk to Jesus or our Heavenly Father we can just say a little prayer.

I am always learning from my little ones in primary!

So after our lesson is was snake time... I was so excited for this part of primary.

I had the husbands go hide eggs in the front yard of the church building. Inside the eggs I put goldfishes for them to snack on once they found all of the eggs!

 ~they had a blast~

 ~the sun was really bright~

 ~she wasn't too sure about the egg~

 ~snack time~

 ~what did you find in your egg~

 ~counting how many eggs each has found~

~my hubby helping me with the little ones~

Fun pictures, huh!! I really love my little primary kids! Sometimes it makes me so excited for when Austin and I will start our little family! 

So on a new note. I will be getting surgery tomorrow... my first surgery ever! Wish me luck! I will be getting a bone removed from my right foot because it has been in there broken for over a year and now its completely dead and just a PAIN! I am a bit nervous but I know all will be fine because I will get a blessing tonight from my husband, grateful for the Priesthood! I will be done for a little bit so I am sure I will be posting again. I will be tracking my progress via the blog! 

Have a Happy Week!

~Ashes

I'm Back...

I have been terrible about blogging... life has happened for sure and other things have become more important! BUT... now that this semester is coming to an end I thought that I would give this whole blogging deal again. So we shall see how it goes...

Since my last post...

-finished my DisneyLIVE international tour {a phenomenal experience}

-got certified as a CNA (certified nurse aide)

-celebrated my best friend's homecoming {Elder Austin Page} from his 2 year mission serving for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Neuquen, Argentina

-got engaged to my BEST friend in the whole world {Austin Neal Page}

-met my first cute baby nephew {Mason Andrew Riley}... i like to call him Mase-Face!

-FINALLY... on 12.28.12 i was sealed to the love of my life in the LDS Denver, Colorado Temple this was a very chilly day {-15} but none the less it was the best day of my whole life!

 I WILL FOREVER LOVE YOU AUSTIN PAGE!!

then... school started... wow that was a slap in the face to bring me into reality... no more disney dancing and the wedding party was over... time to get serious and busy...ROUGH! but at least i still had my PRINCE by my side!

So now to fast forward to today... April 15, 2014

Can I just say I never really believed people (especially "adults") when they would say things like, "you better enjoy life now because time flies by..."or "as you get older time goes by faster..." well I am here to say

I BELIEVE IT NOW... HOLY COW!

Time is just running from me, in some cases it's great like for example when I am stuck in a classroom with no windows, no internet, listening to a monotone professor straight up read his power points to us for TWO AND HALF HOURS! {can you feel my frustration a little} 

But other times I hate how fast time is going for example when Austin and I are spending time together, laughing together, cuddling, talking, riding bikes, going on evening walks, cooking, watching movies or even stupid Jimmy Kimmel youtube videos!! OR when I see pictures of my NOT so baby little sister... she is growing up into this amazing, top model, strong young women... and it kills me that I can't even be there to see her change and watch her experience the wonderful opportunities that she is being offered {admit: tears rolling down my face} I love you SYDDERS! Your sissy is so proud of you... keep working hard and become the person your Heavenly Father wants you to be!

Ok tears dried... wow this blogging just caused me a roller coaster of emotions... I see now why it can be such good therapy tool and maybe even an addiction??

This week will be filled with reviews and studying for finals! Wish my hubby and I luck!

I hope to post soon.... {fingers crosses}

I think this will be a fun little hobby for this summer and spring! Thanks to those of you that will read my posts and follow... 

Besitos (little kisses)

~Ashes~