Open for business!

After a year of practice with an SLR camera, and hours of work on the computer, I finally have my photography business up & running! Check out my new blog:
http://tiachapmanphotography.blogspot.com

P.S. For those of you who offered to let me take their pics for free before I started the business, the offer still stands! ;)

Top of Utah!

Over the weekend of Sept. 11-13, I went with my dad and my uncle Jade to the Uintas to hike Kings Peak. We took the China Meadows trailhead so we could go past Red Castle, which we had never seen before. We've been on the Henry's Fork trail a few times, so we wanted to see some new territory. This trail was a little bit longer, but it was a gorgeous ride! Here is the Red Castle area:



Red Castle lake.



This is where we camped. It was at 11,000 ft. It got really cold at night, there was even frost in the tent! I stayed pretty warm in my mummy bag with my hot rock from the fire :) Here's our view of King's peak from where we camped.



We brought a lot of those Mountain House freeze dried meals to eat. All you have to do is add boiling water, let them sit for a few minutes, then you have a delicious hot meal. They were pretty darn good! I loved the chicken teriyaki with rice, the lasagna and spaghetti, and the beef stroganoff. The scrambled eggs weren't so good. Blechh.



My uncle Jade and I hit the trail at 6:00am the next morning to hike to the top of Kings Peak, the highest point in Utah! Here's some pics on the way up:






I made it to the top!! Elevation: 13,528 ft.

Views:



You can see the trail switchbacks climbing up Anderson Pass, which is at 12,400 ft.





After the hike, coming out we hit this rain/hail/sleet storm going up Smith's Fork Pass (11,400 ft). It was pretty scary. We didn't have any shelter from trees. Just out in the open, vulnerable. I said lots of prayers hoping we'd make it out uninjured and not too frozen and wet.



Overall, we didn't get soaked. Here you can see Rosey's neck. She got wet, but dried quickly. I had a rain poncho. It wasn't too cold unless you stopped moving. The wind was chilly!


That storm doesn't look very inviting. I'm glad we were heading out, not in!




Rosey stopping for a drink.

We saw this guy on the way out, about 5 miles from the trailhead. The moose hunting season had just opened!


The first night, we slept at the trailhead and talked to lots of hunters. That night I got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, and I heard something move right by our tent. It was two moose cows! They had been lying down, and got up when they saw me. It was cool.

On the trip, we also saw a whole herd of elk, and 5 or 6 mountain goats, (no pics of any of those though).

It was about 15 miles in from the trailhead to our camp spot. It took us 8 hours to get there. The hike to Kings took only 2 1/2 hours in (it was about 3 1/2 miles each way), and 1 1/2 hours to get back to camp. Then it took 6 hours to get from camp back to the trailhead. So overall mileage: about 37. It was very tiring, but very fun and memorable!

Reunion Ranch Weekend

Over Labor Day weekend, my family went up to Star Valley for a weekend at the Reunion Ranch. We have rented this cabin for the past couple of years, and it's the perfect size for our family! 6 bedrooms, a nice big living room downstairs for the kids, a pavilion w/ a bbq and picnic tables outside, lots of fenced land so we can bring our horses, and it's in the serenity of Star Valley, our favorite place! In case you didn't already know why we go to Star Valley so much, my dad was raised there, and so was Kevin's mom. We were able to convince my grandma to come along too. She grew up there, and recently moved to Utah after living in Star Valley her whole life. She was just getting too old for the winters, and she wanted to be closer to some of her kids and the temple. I'm glad she made it back with us, and she seemed to have a great time, too!
We did some hiking:

Lots of motorcycle and 4-wheeler riding:

We made s'mores around the campfire, relaxed, .........

went horseback riding up to the top of Draney Peak:

And took lots of family pictures! My brother Shane and his family: Dawna, Sam, and Katie, live in Jackson Hole now, so we don't get to see them very often.

Here is my sister Brianne and her family, Kyle, Toby, Jack, and Maci. Kyle is Kevin's brother.

Here's my younger brother, Kody, and his little family: Brianna and Jovi.

And my youngest sister Season and her family, Tyrel, Easton, Logan, and Luke, recently moved to Burley, so we don't see them much anymore either. It was good to have a real "reunion" with everyone! We all used to live here in Utah so close, but that's not the case anymore. :(

And here's the whole clan, Grandma Henderson included!


We had fun playing Rock band! And we celebrated Luke's 1st birthday :)

And here's a couple of shots of my awesome grandma! She is 85, and has the heart of a teenager from what the doctors say! She's a wonderful woman, and I hope I can be like her when I grow up!