Acute viral nasopharyngitis

For those of you who don't know what acute viral nasopharyngitis is... it's the medical terminology for the 'common cold'. This common cold.. is very common indeed. In fact it's the common denominator in our home at this very present. Katie, Lily, Jacob and myself have all been feeling under the weather. Hopefully we get better in the next few days, because later this week we fly to Utah (our house hunting trip).

I spent this morning hanging out with Lily and Jacob. Katie teaches the thirteen year old girls' Sunday school class. Being the trooper that she is, she went to church, while I tended to our kids. I was able to sit and hold Lily for a long time.. something I don't get to do very often. She's such an angel - lying on my chest - content just to be held. Jacob spent his time watching the Disney channel and reading. Just a side note.. We think he's a genius. At the age of two, he's memorized a dozen books - and when I say memorized.. I mean every word, page.. from cover to cover. Katie and I don't quite understand it... since neither of us have this ability.

Part of my day was also spent looking at homes in Utah.. on a variety of builder and real estate web sites. There's a definite lack of architectural appeal and lifestyle features in the homes in the Utah and Salt Lake counties. After having lived in California for a number of years, and seeing homes from Atherton, Saratoga, Los Gatos, Los Altos, Menlo Park, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Montecito, Beverly Hills, La Quinta, Palm Springs, Newport Beach and other similar cities/towns.. it's hard to look at homes as just boxes - especially when you observe how a home can create or accommodate a lifestyle. There are so many great homes in California whose influence I would love to see in Utah. However, there was one particular builder who I found intriguing in my online search today, and coincidentally, found out that he was originally from Northern California.. but resides in Utah presently. Silver Creek Development produces a great home.. with the big down side being the price (I didn't find anything on their website for under $2.8mil). The market opportunity as I perceive it.. is to produce a home with similar feeling, only smaller - yet possessing the same architectural attraction and function. I also discovered in my search that the median priced home in the Sandy, Draper, Alpine and Highland area's is over $500K. Utah has definitely experienced a boom.. Part of my dream down the road is to produce homes of architectural distinction by forming a development company with my brothers' at some point. It would be great to build communities that are green, eco-friendly and where the homes compliment the area - beautiful to look at and live in. Time will tell whether this is a dream or not..

Being sick does have its advantages. I had the opportunity to spend an entire day with my family.. Looked at homes on the internet.. Watched movies with Jacob, Katie and Lily - and took the opportunity to unwind and relax after a busy week. Hopefully this acute viral nasopharyngitis leaves us all before Thursday. Wishing you all a great week ahead.