My name is Ashley. I used Amley in the title of this blog because I have an aunt who would always call me Amley Shay. I've created this blog as a way for me to record my journey to my bachelors degree.
Let's start with a little background, shall we? I've always been a good student and loved learning. Growing up, college was never a question. It was simply the next step. I graduated high school in the year 2000 and began attending Southern Utah University that fall at the ripe old age of 17. It was my first time living away from home, which was up near Ogden, Utah. I lived in the dorms and had a great time with my roommates.
I was at SUU on academic scholarship as a music education major. I later switched to a vocal performance major after I decided that teaching wasn't my thing. I stayed at SUU for three semesters, fall 2000, spring 2001, and fall 2001. I think my big mistake was taking 21 credit hours during my fall semester while working part time and having to attend recitals and do performances. I got overwhelmed and decided to move back home and attend Weber State. My mom worked for WSU, so I got half off tuition there. Also contributing to my decision was the fact that I'd gotten a 3.85 GPA instead of the 3.9 that I needed to keep my academic scholarship. Now that I look back, I really just wimped out. I loved SUU. I should have stayed.
So, I started at Weber in the spring of 2002 as a vocal performance major. I enjoyed it, but preferred the SUU music program. I sang in their concert choir and auditioned and was accepted into the chamber choir for the following fall. Things were going great and I was right on track with all my classes. Then I met Nate. I fell head over heels for Nate in April of 2002. We were married that June. I returned to Weber State in the fall as a distracted newlywed. One thing you have to know about Nate is that he was raised in Las Vegas and hates the cold. So, after our first winter together in northern Utah, he was ready to get back to a warmer climate. We moved to St. George, UT in December of 2002. On the wonderful advice of my mother, I took an online class from Weber to earn my A.S. degree. The next spring, I talked Nate into moving to Cedar City so that we could both go to SUU.
Nate started at SUU in the summer of 2003 and I returned in the Fall. But there was one hiccup. I was pregnant. Our son was due January 21, 2004. But that didn't stop me from taking a full load of courses and doing my voice lessons and recitals. My last recital was the second week of December when I was very, very pregnant. It must have been pretty amusing to watch my belly bounce up and down as I sang "E'amore Un Ladroncello".
After our son was born, I didn't return to school for over a year. By then we had moved back up to Ogden and Nate was attending WSU. I decided that I didn't want to finish my degree in music, but wanted to go in a different direction. I chose family studies. I took three courses in the spring of 2005 and two in the fall. Then I was pregnant again.
It wasn't until this last summer, five years and two more children later, that I found a way to go back. Being a stay at home mom with three young children makes going to school on campus in a traditional manner pretty impossible. After a lot of searching, I was delighted to find the online Family Life Studies program at Utah State University. I'm on my third semester now and loving it.
So there you have it. That's how I got to where I am. Feel free to hang around and see how I handle being a full time mother and wife and a part time student.
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