Decoration Day

As you know, Memorial Day is a holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. soldiers who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the Civil War – it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the Civil War – it was extended after World War I to honor Americans who have died in all wars. Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer just as Labor Day marks the unofficial end of the season.
Begun as a ritual of remembrance and reconciliation after the Civil War, by the early 20th century, Memorial Day was an occasion for more general expressions of memory, as ordinary people visited the graves of their deceased relatives, whether they had served in the military or not. It also became a day increasingly devoted to family get-togethers, trips to the beach, and picnics and barbeques. from Wikipedia.
Ever since I can remember, we've gone to visit the graves of our grandparents and other relatives on Memorial Day. This usually involved making a trip to Utah from Idaho and visiting the graves of our ancestors in Clarkston and in Providence. Since my Dad passed away in 1983, we've made many trips to his grave site with our family. It is a good time to remember those who have gone before and to think of their good lives and the examples the set for the rest of us to follow. I'll be forever grateful for our ancestors and for their devotion to duty, honor, freedom and family. It was a beautiful day to be out in the various cemeteries we visited and to be grateful for our heritage and ancestors.

A mini Salt Lake City temple

Twelve decades after the completion and dedication of its Salt Lake Temple, the LDS Church is opening up the iconic Mormon landmark to the public for tours — in a virtual, visual and small-scale way.

With the actual 117-year-old grey-granite temple serving as a fitting backdrop, a 1/32nd-scale Salt Lake Temple model towering more than seven feet tall was unveiled Friday morning by church leaders in the Temple Square South Visitors Center.

And the hope is the replica — replete with cut-away walls and views of detailed depictions of the building's layout and rooms — will help visitors better understand the temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We're coming up on the 31st year anniversary of the date that we were married in the Salt Lake City temple. I've always been a fan of its beauty and architecture. I think Claire will especially enjoy looking at this small scale replica. Enjoy!

RIP Art Linkletter

When I was a little kid watching black and white TV, I remember watching Art Linkletter interview children. He had a real knack for talking to children and getting them to say the funniest things. "Because of Art Linkletter, adults found themselves enjoying children," said Bill Cosby another great entertainer and kid interviewer.
Art Linkletter was an all round good guy. He is survived by his wife Lois whom he married in 1935. That's a pretty good indication of the kind of man he was. He died at age 97 in Los Angeles yesterday.

Obesity and the family, round II

Last week the professors who participated in the Obesity and the Family conference last year came back to town and our office ran the second conference for three days. We take care of all the arrangements and I must admit that I really like this part of my job. Event planning is one of my favorite things to do. These professors are quality people. Smart, capable and so engaging. They ask really interesting questions and it's a pleasure to spend time with them. The conference was held here locally but we did go up to Sundance again for dinner one night. Sundance is a little jewel in our community and it is so close to the metropolitan area. It's great to escape and get there in less than 30 minutes.

Many of the visiting professors had never been to Utah before coming last year and they are blown away by our mountains and the campus setting here in town. They're getting ready to publish their findings after working on their research for this last year and I find it very interesting to hear about their findings. I thought I'd list the titles of their papers and share just a few facts from each presentation.

Here goes:

• Using incentives to encourage healthy eating in children - The United States continues to confront the growing levels obesity among all age groups, but particularly among children. Childhood obesity carries with it numerous future costs including decreased labor productivity and increased risk of diabetes. What are the root causes of the increase in obesity among children and how do we encourage the recommended behavioral changes that include a better diet and more exercise? Do incentives promote long-run changes in behavior or do they simply stimulate short-run changes?
• Marriage and body mass in later life - a study that investigates marriage and body mass among those ages 51-80 in the US. Studies show that unmarried men are significantly lighter than married men, but unmarried women are significantly heavier than married women. Significant spousal concordance in body mass is found, suggesting shared obesity risk factors. Obesity is an important public health concern because of the strong association between body mass and many measure of health. There are strong connections between body mass and chronic diseases and on disability. Obesity in middle aged predicts later mortality as strongly as does smoking.
• Individual and school factors associated with body image and obesity among US middle and high school students - American youth are on track to become the most obese generation of adults in history. There is a 12% increase in obesity prevalence for both children and teens between 1980 and 2006. Health risks associated with child obesity are serious and long-term. They are at risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes, asthma, liver disease and sleep apnea. Psychological risks are a serious concern as well. Obesity among children is associated with negative self-esteem, withdrawal from interaction with peers, depression, anxiety and the feeling of chronic rejection.
• The relationship between body mass index and unhealthy weight control behaviors among adolescents: the role of family and peer social support - overweight and obese girls were more likely to engage in unhealthy weight control behaviors than their healthy weight peers. Boys and girls who found communication with their parents to be difficult, who endorsed lower levels of school support, or who engage in no or infrequent extracurricular activities, were more likely to engaged in unhealthy weight control behaviors than their healthy weight peers. Results suggest that adolescents are at high risk for use of unhealthy weight control behaviors and would benefit from interventions to increase knowledge and social support for healthy weight control behaviors.
• Genetic markers as instrumental variables: an application to child fat mass and academic achievement - Focus on the effect of children's fat mass on their academic performance.
• Obesity, family instability and socioemotional adjustment in childhood and adolescence - the last two decades have witnessed dramatic increases in obesity and family instability. These two trends may converge in the lives of individual children and adolescents. To the extent that the social stigma of obesity is a risk factor and family instability represents the potential compromise of important protective factors, their convergence may disrupt socioemotional development.
• The psychological consequences of weight trajectories - Studies show that persons who were persistently overweight or obese accept their excessive weight as part of their identity, whereas those who experienced weight change struggle between two identities: the weight they actually are and the weight that they believe exemplifies who they are. Interactions with family members and significant others were important contributors to weight self-concept.
• Parental employment, family routines and childhood obesity - there is a large and growing literature on the effect of parental employment on children's obesity. The time constraints make it difficult to maintain routines and may also result in more reliance on conveniences such as fast food. Employed women find less time spent cooking, less time eating with their children and a higher likelihood of purchasing prepared foods.
• Family mealtimes: a contextual approach to understanding childhood obesity - there is a growing interest in the role that shared family mealtimes may play in promoting the health and well being of children. Families that regularly eat their main meal together four or more times a week are more likely to have children who do better in school, are of average weight, less likely to use drugs and alcohol at an early age and consume more fruits and vegetables. Families who had a child of healthy weight spent more time engaged with each other during the meal, expressed more positive communication and considered mealtimes more important and meaningful that families who had a child who was overweight or obese.

I think that the topic of obesity and weight gain is very important and should be discussed in every family. What steps are we taking to stop the progression of obesity in our own families? The effects of obesity are so far reaching and have so many negative outcomes. I wonder if we could do a better job at doing the simple things like eating dinner together as a family every night, not eating too much fast food, eating more fresh fruits and vegetables and exercising and being active in life. It's a challenge to do these simple things, but well worth the time and effort it takes. One theme that was repeated over and over during the conference is that it's easier to keep the weight off in the first place than to try and lose it later on. As Mormons, we don't smoke, we don't drink alcohol, but we sure do eat! As a culture, I think we could do a better job watching the high calorie foods we consume and get moving more to keep our weight in check.

On a brighter note

Over the last month, we got to spend some time with two of our four granddaughters. Skippy has some good kisses and great ham hocks to squeeze.
The mothers on Mother's Day. It was so fun to be with new mother Claire and enjoy the day together.
Skippy was intent on playing in color land with lots of fun things.
Enjoying her first of many baseball games.
Sunday walk with Gramps and Gramma, Mommy and Daddy. Lovely day!
Spending some one on one time with baby Ada.
While the girls were here for women's conference, we ended up eating a dinner with just the six of us. That hasn't happened in many years, and it was nice to be together again. Everyone sat in his or her assigned seat of course for dinner. What can I say? I love our children. And their dad isn't bad either!
Courtney had a sleep over with us while Dave was out interviewing for MBA school and we enjoyed watching a movie and having some girl time with Jordan and Claire.
R's dad Richard bought Claire and R a piano for Christmas. He and Rick enjoy playing duets together and it is always a pleasure to spend some time with him.
Grampy Rickeeee loves his little grand girls!