The Conservatory - Bellagio

Floral Painting 2 - Belagio

This entire "painting" was made up of flowers.

Floral Art 1 - Bellagio

See the painting at the end of this bridge? see Floral Painting 2 for the details.

Bird Haven - Bellagio

This green house in the conservatory had a ton of awesome birds living in it.

Liberty Bell - Bellagio

I love the exhibits in the Conservatory at the Bellagio.

One of Life's Mottos

I saw this and thought "now THOSE are words to live by!"

Zion

As amazingly beautiful as this park is, I know why they called it Zion.

Weeping Rock

One of the few walks we got to take was to Weeping Rock. I love this view of the growth coming from the wet rocks.

My Hikers

Charity and Camille really loved walking around Zion's and seeing the scenery and animals.

Where We Once Played

A lot has changed in Zion's since I was a kid. You can no longer camp or even drive beyond the turn off to the tunnle. We rested at this bench at the Grotto stop and I reminisced about playing in Zion as a kid.

Zion's National Park

I have not been to Zion's since I was a kid but we loved getting to briefly visit this past weekend.

Jared

Hidden

Charity loved hiding in these little rock alcoves all throughout Zion's.

M&M Pennies

Charity found her collection in stamped pennies.

Choco and Charity

Charity loved this animatronic crocodile at the Rainforest Cafe.

Charity's Lions

One stop we always make in Vegas is the lions at MGM. Charity and I could stare at them all day.

Lying Down With Lambs

We stopped at a gas station in Scipio that has a petting zoo and Charity made some cute wooly friends.

Our Little Trooper

Charity has been fantastic on this drive to Mequite. she is still so happy with her pink headphones at 10 at night.

Shorts a'la Jared

At first I thought I had just made friends with a cute baby goat. turns out the smell from my chicken wrap still lingered on my shorts and he tried for a nibble... I hope I tasted good...

Emu Games

These guys are a lot of fun to watch. I could enjoy having a herd of these and a herd of Cassowarys.

Star of the Show

The big attraction at this stop is the Zebra colt they have here. we loved feeding him and he loved being fed. How many gas station/rest stops can boast a baby zebra?

Good Donkey...

Charity seems to have a pension for mules and donkeys of late.

Charity wants to be a trick rider!

Charity told me she wanted to be like the kids in the radio show!

Get 'em Calamity Jane

We loved watching the Stage Coach ride into town. It was especially fun to see Calamity Jane and Wyatt Erp run off those marauding bandits bent on robbing the coach.

Saving Wild Horses

They had an area talking about the project to adopt and protect wild horses in Utah. Charity really loved it and talked a lot about keeping the horses safe.

Rough Rider

Charity's pony was pretty eager to get going and was pushing the walker while they were still loading other riders. somehow the little pony got around the walker and took some re-directing but ole Cool Hand Charity kept her head and even told the pony "hey pony" stop for the kids".

The Porker 500

Charity's favorite activity at The Wild West Show was the pig races. We rooted for Arnold Schwartzenhogger and Britney Spare Ribs.

The Dog and Mule Show??

Charity was convinced she was seeing a horse. I of course had to tell her a mule to which she asked Pandora's queston "what is a mule daddy?"... uh well.... let's see... when a dady donkey sees a mommy horse that is totally out of his league but refuses to relent then.... uh....

Mac and Cheese Monster

Charity got her dad's trait of getting "hangry". a good Mac and Cheese fix at Archibald's solves that quick.

Sock Monkey Dreams and Candy

Gadner Village is a great place to take a kid who loves just observing so many different things. my little monkey latched on to this sock monkey and told me "daddy take a picture.. it will be cute" I can't argue with logic like that!

Sock Monkey Dreams and Candy 2

I have been loving my retro phone app and had to get a seperate treatment of this proclaimedly "cute" pic.

My Little Rockstar

Looks like we need to get her a baby Red Bull to keep the party going.

Saving Lives

Charity sat in the Life Flight Helicopter on its visit to the Spanish Fork Fire Department. this is the same one that was used to save her Uncle Marcus so we were very happy to see it and tell the crew "Thank you".

The RRAARREE Bird Show...

In case you missed it, the title is a PCU reference. Camille and Charity got their picture with Liberty the Bald Eagle at the Hogle Zoo bird show. We love the Hogle Zoo!

Zoorassic Park

Camille and Charity deftly and bravely climb on top of the ferrocious T Rex at Hogle Zoo.

Baby Colobus

So cute peeking out under his moms arm!

The Kangaroo and Friends

Charity and I stopped at the little farm near our house to see all the animals. we especially like the Kangaroo.

Conference Hairdo

Camille and Charity did Charity's hair for conference. looks like an easy, low-maintenance style dad won't have to do much with. I like it!

Utah's Natural Beauty

I truly truly love living in Utah and this is part of the reason why. pulled over in Springville to get this shot.

Our Exciting News

On Monday we went around visiting some of our local family with Charity and letting her give them a little present. The picture below is that present...

Our family is expecting our newest addition, a baby boy who we have named Chandler Anthony Parmenter, around August 17th of this year. We are really excite, especially Charity who has been telling us she whats a baby brother for some time now.

We just wanted to share our good news with everyone.

Out of the Mouths of Babes...

Each Sunday in Sacrment Meeting we try to help Charity stay reverent by showing her pictures from the Gospel Art Book and tell her about them. We have been doing this for some time now and Charity has started telling us the stories. Today she identified and told us the stories of Jesus being baptized by John, Mary teaching Jesus to pray, Isiah prophecying of the birth of Christ and others.

The fun comes from the hings she seems to think are important but forgotten.

I showed here a picture of Moses with the 10 commandments and said "this is Moses" to which she replied "what's his last name?"

that's my kid for ya!

That's a GGGOOOODDDD canole....

looks like Mark is digging him some canole... oops.. got a little cream on your chin there man!

My Wonderful Girls

This is the amazing spread my girls made for my birthday. Needless to say, I am lying in bed groaning in blissful agony.