For the past few years, my parents have gifted us with a vacation for Christmas instead of actual gifts. Ask any of us–this is the best thing they ever did and I am so thankful for it! We get to make priceless memories together and that is so much better than any gift could be.

This year, we traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah. There were 15 of us total, so actually getting there was quite the experience. Two flights and three rental cars later, we pulled up to one of the nicest houses I have ever stayed in. It had 8 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, a game room, a theater room, and a hot tub. These amenities came in handy when 6 of the 15 of us got the stomach virus and had to stay at the house for 24 hours.

On the first morning, we drove to Park City to walk around and explore. It was such a cute little town, with lots of shopping and sights. Our reading family LOVED Dolly’s Bookstore on Main Street. We ate lunch at Annex Burger on Main Street and it was delicious. The Buffalo Sliders were chef’s kiss.

We began day two with a hike of Donut Falls. It was our least favorite part of the trip. The hike was easy, but longer than we expected. And the waterfall we were hoping to see was all frozen and snowed over, so we couldn’t see a thing. It would be BEAUTIFUL in the spring or summer, just not in the dead of winter when we were there.

Later that evening, we drove to Coalville, Utah, to do some snowmobiling. We booked through BackCountry Snowmobiling and they were wonderful! They provided everything we needed for the ride and were very friendly and informative on the tour.

After lots of research (and even a few visits to different ski resorts), we chose to spend our ski time at Brighton Resort. Brighton is located at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon and is the cutest little village. We had a range of ski abilities in our group, and Brighton has slopes for all of us- from beginner to expert.

Kyndall has snowboarded for a few years now, so that was her first choice. Libby and Jase both started on skis but switched to boards after a few hours. They picked up boarding remarkably fast and fell in love with it instantly.

Way too quickly, it was time to board our flights back home. We said “See you later” to Utah, because we have every intention of going back soon!