Sunset Skies

One night I looked out the window to find this absolutely unreal sunset. A scarlet sky to the east with a giant full rainbow arc spread across.













This really happened.
Stunning.

HOT!

Yesterday:


Right now:


Whew...

Glowy Montana morning

Last weekend:

Ty's rustic home in the hills of Ashland

Went camping in Ashland with Sarah and my adopted brothers Jaden & Jairus at their Uncle Ty's ranch. A wonderful couple of days! Enjoyed the beautiful countryside, played with my little "sister" Tyleah, spent some time with Garla's mom and dad (their grandparents, who live right around the corner), had SMORES!, played hide and seek, made silly movies with the kids on their iPad, and . . . rode a horse for the very first time!!


The sunset sky- our view as we ate dinner with their family outside atop the hill... beautiful


Ready to ride!


The first horse I ever rode!! named Jaden (not to be confused with my 'brother'; it'll be his own horse someday)








The evening sun stretching its rays over the ranch


Playing with Tyleah :)


Jaden driving the ranger down to our camping spot


Setting up camp


Yay! :)


Captures the glory of the weekend


The sun sets over Ashland



The next day we were exhausted from our camping adventure but we got up early for the Heart and Sole run/walk in Billings. I did the 2 mile walk with Barbara, her son Otto, her mom, her niece Tatiana, and her sister Maggie. It was a nice morning and the festivities after the race were a lot of fun (popsicles, dunk tanks, obstacle course, rock wall, Zumba, face painting... Sarah & I decided to paint our faces (we asked if we could just do it ourselves) and then I ended up painting this random girl's face too.. ha! I was like sure, I'm not working at this table but I can do it, why not. :o) ) That afternoon Barbara's family had a father's day picnic in a little park that we joined them for. Sarah and I were very overtired so it became quite silly... a long but fun day in Billings!



In the middle of the walk Tatiana had to use the bathroom so they asked some lady who was sitting outside her house with her dogs if they could go in and use it.. lol



face paint!



My spontaneous cheetah creation!

JV Adventures in Cooking

During a year of JVC you're supposed to grow in all sorts of ways... and one of my areas of growth has definitely been in cooking. Not that I've cooked all that much, or anything that fancy at all, but it's more than I've ever even attempted before, anyway!

Mmmm, my dinner tonight: this yummy vegetarian burrito wrap! Seasoned Basmati & tomato rice, with black beans, fresh tomato and green-leaf lettuce, and a little bit of shredded cheddar on a warmed flour tortilla (oh, and topped with spoonfuls of fresh salsa!) Very simple but so good!!


Nutrition is also something that I've become more intensely interested in, which is kind of unfortunate because it's also a big challenge to eat locally/organically/vegetarian in Montana (at least where I am) and to eat at all nutritiously on the rez. But the challenge itself has been an experience, and will definitely have me appreciating the options back home. That's one thing I can say I'm looking forward to returning to... adventures in healthy eating!

Pretty Eagle 125th Anniversary Celebration

On Saturday we celebrated the 125th Anniversary of Pretty Eagle Catholic Academy / St. Xavier Mission School (it was founded before even the state of Montana!) It was a lovely celebration. They had past principals and elders of the community speak about the old days at the school, had a mass celebrated by the bishop with the help of several of our students, had a big barbeque feed, and a pow wow in the afternoon. It was a great day!


They've been sprucing up the school for the past month getting it all ready.


Terrel & Don carrying up the cedar bowl for the smudging during mass.


One of our students assisting the bishop for mass


Grand entry, led by officers carrying the Crow Flag, Miss Crow Nation, and Big Horn Princess


Dancing in the pow wow :)


Beautiful sisters!


Verdell's boys Colton, Rowdy, & Skylar singing a hand drum song for the crowd... they are the best!


Amazing beadwork!! Bridgette just finished beading these a couple months ago and let me borrow them when I ran over to see if she had any moccasins I could borrow for dancing... omg.


All dressed up for dancing! Just wore my handgame dress like a few of the girls did. I had so much fun being in the pow wow!

Ta Da! the finished mural!

Finished the mural just in time for the big 125th Anniversary celebration. I love how colorful it came out!



Certainly brightens up the place a bit! :)

Summer School Fun

So this was our first week of summer school and I'm teaching 4th and 5th grade math. It's only Monday-Thursday for half a day and the classes switch mid-morning. Today I did a really fun activity with both groups to practice finding mean, median, and mode. We collected data on the time it took to run an obstacle course, how many marshmallows they could fit in their mouth (that was my favorite!), how many free throws out of 5 shots they could make, and how many pretzels they could fit in their mouth. They had a blast!



Evan attempting the marshmallow challenge!




Summertime playground fun :)

Arrow Tournament

I looked out my window after school today and there were suddenly at least 30 cars out there and boys throwing arrows right at our house. It turned out to be Big Horn District's arrow throwing tournament (for these few weeks they have these tournaments all over the rez for a couple days each.) I ended up hanging out with the Alden family out there and watching some kids from school throw.. it was pretty neat!

I was sitting on my bed and all of a sudden I looked up and saw arrows coming towards my window! haha they were practicing in the area right in front of our trailer.

Painting Fun!

We're painting a mural at school! We've been wanting to paint one on the side of the big garage out by the playground, so we started this week and had the kids help during our after-summer-school activity time :)









I'll show you how it turns out!

Mountain Top Retreat

Bozeman, Montana
This past weekend was our last Big Sky retreat with JVC Northwest at a beautiful spot in Bozeman (about 3 hours west of here.)


The Big Sky JVs... in front of a rainbow!! with Fr. Joseph from Hays, the lovely, adorable old priest who facilitated our retreat, with lots of old stories and old songs :)


Excited about the rainbow over the mountains right when we arrived! It was beautiful sun and rain weather rolling over the mountains the whole weekend and we saw a few double rainbows (and even a triple!!)... so exciting!! (The first rainbows I've seen since IRELAND! must be special.)





Can you find Sarah? ;) Want to make this into a painting...


"Oh dear!" ;) so close!


Played with my fun Polaroid


Kathleen & Kate from Billings sitting in the flower field outside the lodge



Jess from Hays shared this meditation as an opening reflection at retreat and I just loved it, so I'm posting it here. Enjoy.

Do Interesting Things

“Whatever you dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.” - Goethe

We live in interesting times. We’re blessed that way.
The world is changing rapidly.
The way we work is changing, the way we live has already changed. Entire industries are crumbling, and more are growing on their ruins. People are empowered to express themselves, to create, to become a part of a global conversation and transformation, in a way that has never existed before.
What will you do with that?
What will your place be in this new, interesting world? Will you have a voice? Will you be a creator, or just a consumer?
Do something.
Do something interesting.
Be a part of the conversation, and say something remarkable. Create something unique, new, beautiful. Build upon the works of others and transform it into your own.
How to do this?

Write a book. Or an ebook. Write poetry and publish it on the web. Create interesting, lovely or funny videos, put them on You Tube. Be passionate. Write a web app that will solve a problem in people’s lives. Become a watchdog to replace the faltering newspapers. Explore the world, and blog about it. Try something you’ve always been afraid to try, and put it on video. Be yourself, loudly. Start a new company, doing only one thing, but doing it very well. Start a business that does a service you’ve always wanted, or that you are frustrated with in other companies. Put your heart into something. Say something that no one else dares to say. Do something others are afraid to do. Help someone no one else cares to help. Make the lives of others better. Make music that makes others want to weep, to laugh, to create. Inspire others by being inspiring. Teach young people to do amazing things. Write a play, get others to act in it, record it. Empower others to do things they’ve never been able to do before. Read, and read, and then write. Love, and love, and then help others to love. Do something good and ask others to pass it on. Be profound. Find focus in a world without it. Become minimalist in a world of dizzying complexity. Reach out to those who are frustrated, depressed, angry, confused, sad, hurt. Be the voice for those without one. Learn, do, then teach. Meet new people, become fast friends. Dare to be wrong. Take lots and lots of pictures. Explore new cultures. Be different. Paint a huge mural. (yes! in the middle of doing that right now!) Create a web comic. Be a dork, but do it boldly. Interview people. Observe people. Create new clothes. Take old stuff and make new stuff from it. Read weird stuff. Study the greats, and emulate them. Be interested in others. Surprise people. Start a blog, write at least a little each day. Cook great food, and share it. Be open-minded. Help someone else start a small business. Focus on less but do it better. Help others achieve their dreams. Put a smile on someone’s face, every day. Start an open-source project. Make a podcast. Start a movement. Be brave. Be honest. Be hilarious. Get really, really good at something. Practice a lot. A lot. Start now. Try.