the Graham Cracker House

This may be a bit belated... but I don't know if I can adequately describe how amazingly perfect our  week-after- Christmas was!  My parents Christmas gift to us kids was for everyone to spend a week staying at a condo near Snow Basin, UT and skiing at the resort.

this is how we spent our lunch breaks- exausted!

 The Condo itself was a treasure!  It had enough room (comfortably) for ALL 11 of us.  (don't ask to hear KC's side of the story, she might tell you differently).  There was beautiful rustic wood furniture, and yummy smelling fancy soaps, not to mention, everything we needed in the kitchen!  It was a great place to relax, play games (the ipads were in constant use), we got wi-fi, and of course the HOT TUB.

Erin and Madeline

Snow Basin itself really is the hidden gem of utah.  With three gondolas, and a high speed quad, the lifts were pretty great (expect for the super slow Porcupine lift that froze my bum off and ripped the backpack... but we won't talk about that).  The lodges were exceptional.  Elegant carpet, fluffy dinning chairs, huge wood tables, and a large fireplace in the center of every lodge.  Most ski resorts have a nice main lodge, and tiny second-rate lodges for the others.  Snow basin had three incredibly perfect lodges.  Only one was a wee bit crowded, so we just shied away from that.  Since we didn't even know how great they were- we ate our lunch in the car the first day. Sad.  But after that we packed the food in backpacks and met up for lunch at the one of the upper lodges.

One reason this resort has been updated more than other resorts we've been to lately was because of the Olympics in 2002. This spot was chosen for the Men's and Women's downhill ski event, so they were given a ton of money to make it nice. Which they did.  Being the brave souls we are, we SKIED the downhill track. It is extremely steep to begin with, but a whole lot of fun to speed down after that.

Spending time with the FAM was delightful. Bjorn (and the other in-laws) faired fairly well.  We had classics like a charades night, semi-old traditions of monopoly on New Years Eve, and a new traditions of "share what you've learned". I love our family!

Twas Fantastic.  We're hoping to do it again someday.