A Search For Balance By Jada Rogers

Ashley Littreal is always searching for a balance. Like many women in America today, she must wear many hats. Here all alone, away from her extended family, as she is originally from Nevada, with just her husband Chris and their kids, Ashley must keep continuing each day with little to no help. Many things that happen in day-to-day life are all on her to handle, as her husband is a truck driver. Through the process of selling the house that she and her family moved into almost a year ago, Ashley must also juggle being a manager at Crumbl Cookie, a college student, a wife, and, most importantly, a mother to her four children, ages five to fourteen.

Multitasking is a skill that Ashley has mastered.
Human beings aren't the only thing that Ashley is responsible for taking care of. She has three hairless cats and two dogs.
Even though the cookies are in need of her attention, Ashley is often pulled in other directions because of people needing her in all areas of her life.
Trick-or-Treating with her two youngest children, ages eight and five, had many highs and lows, yet there were many sweet moments in between the chaos.
Ashley brings her laptop with her to work about three days out of the five days that she is at Crumbl.

Ashley will bring her laptop to work with her in hopes of getting some assignments done if she can. Regardless of whether that does or does not happen, she must make sure her team is informed of what needs to be done while they are all there. Right after she finished writing the next shift's tasks for their team, she logged on to her student portal.

Every day, Monday-Friday, Ashley travels over thirty minutes one way to pick her children up from school, so she can ensure the best education possible for her children.
Littreal has many shifts in which she comes in to work even before her children are up and getting ready for school. This is after her late nights up doing assignments for her classes.

Out of the five days of the week that Ashley works, two of the days she stops to do her youngest daughter's hair. Chris, her husband, will bring their daughter to Ashley at work to fix her hair briefly before he goes to work for his fourteen-hour-long shifts after he drops their daughter off at school. This happens while she is in the midst of answering questions from her team and updating her boss on how things are projected to be for the day.

The car line is one of the few moments Ashley can have to herself. For many parents, these moments alone would be peaceful. For Littreal, they can be stressful instead because this also becomes the time when she tries to get assignments done too.
"I'm so proud of her for how far she's come. From her childhood to a being a mother to a full time student and doing better for her kids. She is by far one of the strongest women I know." - Chris Littreal
With four children, all in school, sickness is something that Ashley is always either trying to prevent or combat.
Before Ashley can leave work as manager, she must communicate with the shift lead who will be taking over. Sometimes these conversations are short; other times they are long.
When time permits, she often handles business for her children and does not just do schoolwork in between doing her managerial duties.
Ashley ensures that her family has a healthy and balanced diet.

Right after getting off work, Ashley goes grocery shopping. Harris Teeter is typically where she goes, not because it has the cheapest prices in this economy, but because it is right beside her job. It is the easiest and most convenient place to go for something that she must make time for.

She may work close to 50 hours a week, yet she still makes time to give her children quality time and fun experiences that she can be present for.
"I keep up with the chaos so I can give my children that life that I never had and to set a good example for them." - Ashley Littreal