Show Celebrate marriage each year Q: How can I make the most of my wedding anniversary? Answer by Glen Jenson professor emeritus Utah State University Extension and Family and Human Development Department If a marriage was worth celebrating originally it should be worth Through cooperation understanding and work! a marriage is something that gets better with time Therefore each year should be a celebration of makijig something that was good and meaningful into something even better A wedding anniversary is a time to rethink commitments It is also a time to make new commitments that will promote the growth and development of the marriage It is a time to give thanks to each other for services rendered feelings expressed promises delivered joys Photo courtesy of J R Allred Rising from see level to well over 13000 feet Haleakala Crater on Maui is Hawaii's peak and well worth the drive i Go comfort given in times of need and acceptance of weaknesses and strengths An anniversary is a good time to evaluate how the marriage relationship is meeting the needs of your spouse It is a good time to report the profits and losses to the marriage during the past year and set new goals to strengthen it A wedding anniversary is much like a shared birthday and should he treated as a memorable occasion A marriage frequently celebrated improves in worth and health Consider these ideas for anniversary celebrations Visit the places of your courtship and early years of marriage Return to your marriage place and reminisce the events of that day Spend a night or two in the hotel where you spent your honeymoon This can bring buck pleasant memories of learning to live together Find ways to meaningfully ' express yourself These might include written messages physical intimacy sharing services or giving gifts that have special significance such as a tape or CD of music from the era of your marriage Reaffirm your marriage vows Get a copy of the vows or write down important phrases used in your marriage ceremony Reread llietu and ask yourself if your are doing your part to keep the vow s You may also want to write new vows that address current feelings and new challenges Spend time looking at wedding pictures and other memorable pictures that pertain to your marriage Arrange to be away from work on your anniversary A wedding anniversary should he at least as important as any national or state holiday we celebrate Make concrete plans for the day If you have children at home arrange for childcare and do something special for you and your spouse Surprise your spouse Gifts or activities are often more fun and meaningful if they are given as a surprise Plan a special trip together On milestones such as the I Oth 25lh or 50th anniversary make financial plans early and do something out of the ordinary There arc many places to go and things to do that are not overly expensive Make a video or slide presentation of your married years set to your spouse's favorite music Stay home but don’t let anyone know you're tltere Enjoy a quiet day with each other Spend time remembering activities you have done on previous wedding anniver- By J R to Hawaii for the beaches But don’t miss the mountain peaks Allred mav have dif- the best in Hawaii the the show s — but I'or the lop attractions there can be no argument: the mountains around two national parks are the literal high points of Hawaii and of the entire Pacific On a recent island- hopping lour with the USU Alumni Association wc visited both Mauna Lou in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park rises 3677 feel Not far behind is the crater at laleakala National Park on Maui liven higher Kea is just outside Volcanoes National Park but it is a short hop Travelers 1 1 ' saries Invite your children and their spouses if they are married to join with you in a celebration of mar- - riage Direct column topics to Julene USU Extension Logan UT Reese 84322-490- 0 I st experi- enced care given love extended hopes shared ’ third-highe- JZl from sea to snow Yes snow Dur ing a few months of the year Mauna Kea does collect snow and the adventuresome can get in some ski runs although there are no lifts or ki lodges Mauna Kea is the highest point in feel The high- the Pacific at 37 352X-l'oest point in Utah Kings Peak sits on surrounding highlands that give it a great head start I he crest of Mauna Kea is only 20 miles nr so from the ocean but if you go -- 0 miles Irom Kings Peak you are not even dow n to Hear Lake It is an easy drive Irom the coastal city of Hilo to 1 law aii Volcaimcs National Park one of 22 sites in the United States that has been designat-Maun- a cd a World Heritage Site by UNESCO 1 he visitor center at 1 1 ol Photo courtesy of J R Allred Patterns in the lava rock can take innumberable forms including this one niscent of a coiled rope or growth rings in a tree remi- headquarters has displays and an entation video Historic Volcano ori- House set among the trees feels more like a mountain inn among the Rockies — except that it overlooks Kiluea Crater As we drove the road around the rim Kiluea Crater itself first gave me the impression of a big mud fiat brown and broad But it dearly is hard because there are trails across it and we saw hikers going hack and forth Yet not far from some of them little puffs of steam arose from time to lime reminding that there are still hot spots underneath From the rim Chain of Craters Road takes you closer to a series of smaller craters as it drops down toward the sea crossing over stretches of more recent lava How Along the way are gixtd view areas with craters and lava fields at your feel and the blue Pacific as the hack- -' drop for a contrasting landscape One roadside stop was at the forThurston Lava Tube a cave-lik-e mation of hardened lava that once had molten lava flowing through You can walk through a paved and lighted passage Coming to an opening most visitors exit but you cun also continue through another length of the tube if you bring your ow n light and feel adventuresome We were told there are still tuhes with flowing lava under some of the new growth ureas down slope Some of the urea along Chain of Craters Road looks hic and forbidding as a moonscape luil there are hands of trees and shrubs that the lava rivers flowed past without burning or covering them The little ridges of puhoehoe lava in one stretch of How reminded me of a pun of brow nies fresh out of the oven! but on a much grander scale In other places the nick has crumbled to sand and caught other soil from ' the winds and made little spots where new colonies of plants are starting life in Ihccrevices and particles As you approach the water there are steam vents here and there and plumes of steam w here the cold sea water hurls itself against the replenishing hot rocks Someone remarked it is like two irresistible forces meeting each other The lava builds shelves along the shore seeming to extend the land surface and indeed it does: Hawaii is still growing But along the way the new territory comes and goes As it pushes out over itself the molten rock builds a shelf apparently land next to the water but in reality land above the water unsupported except by its own strength w ith no foundation They warn you against entering such new land areas because from lime to time pieces maybe as big as an automobile or may be as big as a good Cache Valley grain field ('IT and drop into the depths or perhaps shatter into more bits for the black sand beaches Then the process cun begin all over again eventually building enough base to he sturdy and become a genuine new piece of real estate Near the coast a little movable visitor center offers information about (he area and marks the starling place of a walking trail Yellow plastic labs like those we see road builders use to show the line may-brea- Sec HAWAII on BI2 Elephant ancestor could swim IRAKLIO Greece (AP) — A prehistoric ancestor of the elephant may have roamed — and perhaps swum — farther than experts once imagined Researchers on the southern Greek island of Crete have unearthed the fossilized tusk teeth and hones of a fearsome Dcinothcrium Giganlisi-muan elephant-lik- e creature that reached nearly 15 feet tall The 7 million-year-oremains suggest the mammal moved around larger areas of Europe than previously believed possibly swimming long distances in search of food “It was more widespread than we m ld thought" said Charalampos Fas-soul- as a geologist who headed the excavations by the University of Crete’s Natural History Museum The 4 tusk was found in September along with seven fossilized teeth the size of softballs and several bones on farmland cleared to plant olive trees “We don't have many fossils of 1 ot ESE3 this animal so everything we find increases our knowledge about it and its habitat" Fussoulas said waving his hand over a lab tabic holding the finds The species — whose tusks curved downward fmmils chin — is the largest member of the animal Its remains have been found mainly in central Europe Fassoulas speculated the elephants reached Crete from nearby Asia Minor or modem day Turkey possibly swimming part of the way across the southern Aegean Sea archipelago during periods where sea levels were lower “Vegetarian animals could swim a lot” he said “And we believe that these animals came probably from Asia Minor via (the islands of) Rhodes and Karpatlios to reach nt Crete” Remains of other elephant ancestors have previously been found on mainland Greece leading some' researchers to speculate that bones found by ancient Greeks may have become part of their mythology A large hole in the middle of the elephant's skull — the nasal cavity for its trunk — could have given rise to the tales of the cyclops the ferocious mythological giant with one eye that appears in Homer's “Odyssey” and other stories “People who lived in the early Greek period may have seen (elephant) hones and couldn’t have imagined where they could have come from" said Fassoulas He uiged other farmers to look out for fossilized bones in eastern Crete where the tusk and bones were unearthed “Unfortunately we didn't find the skull which is very important This would gives us a lot of information” he said The tusk broken in several places will he set in plaster before being put on public display AP photo Greek geologist Fassoulas measures a Charalampos ld fossilized tusk belonging to an elephant ancestor at the University of Crete's Natural History Museum |