The time came to cash in on the big kahuna Christmas coupon…the Florida trip to Harry Potter world.

Another amazing doodle by Kathryn

We flew out of Provo direct to Orlando MCO. Easy peasy compared to getting everyone and everything to the gate in SLC.

All set and ready to go.

Well hello, Mount Nebo.

That’s starting to look a lot like Florida!

Ashley modeling our home-away-from-home condo.

After some consternation, we convinced these two it would be OK to sleep in the same room. A little dose of paw patrol on their own TV may have also helped.

Adventure day 1 was a return to Kennedy Space Center, some beach time, and then watching a Falcon 9 launch the IM-2 lunar lander. It’s always impressive to see the VAB up close.

One of the crawler-transporters

Apollo mission control

Dwarfed by the Saturn 5

Space shuttle Atlantis

Then while on the way to Playalinda beach, Kathryn spotted an armadillo! It was casually looking for grub along the side of the road. But when Kathryn got out to get a closer look, it skedaddled real fast.

Relaxing on Playalinda beach

Beautifully clean sand

We had hoped to watch the rocket launch from the beach, which is about as close as you can get to the launch pad, but the launch was a little too late in the evening and they closed the beach. So we watched the launch from the bridge outside Titusville. It was incredible how much the rocket lit up the night. And it was amazing to see just how quickly it climbed up and away. Very neat experience to see in person.

On to Adventure day 2. Harry Potter World at Universal Studios! Here we are at Diagon Alley.

Inside Gringot’s Bank

And Sugarplum’s Sweet Shop

And Butterbeer

If only!

We also checked out a lot of the other rides throughout the park, and Kathryn found her new secret hideout.

Thanks for the fun day Universal Studios.

Adventure Day 3, Harry Potter World part 2 at the Islands of Adventure Park.

Hogwarts castle!

Hagrid’s hut on the flight of the hippogriff ride

Zoey on the Seuss Landing merry-go-round

Dinner at the Hog’s Head restaurant

Now onto Jurassic Park!

Here we are in line for the best rollercoaster ever, the VelociCoaster! What a terrific shirt for this ride! He earned a cool 10 bucks for waiting happily in the child swap on this one.

The last ride of the night was Spider-Man.

I loved this sign in the newsroom area of the line.

Cool kids racing around the city and taking down the bad guys with Spider-Man.

Last night at the condo, enjoying the big bed and oh-so-cozy blanket.

Adventure Day 4. We went out to Cocoa Beach for some more sand, sun, and wave conquering.

Then we took an airboat tour up the Saint Johns river to see gators in the wild!

Big gators!

Baby gators!

Swamp trees. Very different than what we have at home!

Say “Gator Bait”!

On the way home.

All tuckered out after a fun trip.

Darling.

What a busy and fun trip! Merry Christmas kiddos. We love you.

Six years ago, I went on a work trip to Vienna: Europe Trip. This year, I had the chance to go back, and Kathryn came along for the ride. Here’s a quick report from our K&L Vienna 2025 trip.

Flying over the Alps.

I had a work meeting to attend, so Kathryn did some initial exploring. She visited the Mozart Haus.

This is the view from the window where Mozart composed The Magic Flute.

Programs from some of his concerts.

Meanwhile, back in Utah…

The next day was a full day of adventure walking around the city. St. Stephen’s Cathedral is quite a masterpiece of medieval construction.

We climbed the 343 steps (7x7x7) up the massive south tower to the observation room.

Mozart

Hoffburg Palace

The Vienna Ice World ice skating rinks and pathways in front of Vienna City Hall. This was pretty incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it. There wee even different levels connected by ice ramps.

The Votive Church, pictureception.

Incredibly ornate facade

And equally impressive interior

Such a cute cross walk symbol. The world might just be a better place if all crosswalks were like this.

Another side of the Hofburg palace

Ball time. Time to get dressed up.

This was the real reason Kathryn came to Vienna. The company that we came to visit invited us to attend the Techniker Cercle ball at the Musikverein. It is a prestigious annual event requiring coattails and evening gowns. When we originally got the invitation to extend our trip through the weekend and attend the ball, I was hesitant. Never have I ever even considered something like this. When I mentioned it to Kathryn, she had a much different reaction…more of the “are you crazy, of course we’re going” kind. So, here we are, all ready to go.

The evening started with an incredible dinner in the exclusive top floor glass room of the DO & CO hotel overlooking the Stephan’s Cathedral.

It was an incredible multi-course meal with some of the most delicious food.

The ball officially started at 10 pm and concluded at 4 am.

The ball began with the presentation of the debutantes. This is the formal introduction of young ladies (ages 18-24) into society. You only get to do it once. They performed the parade and then some traditional dances.

After the presentation of other officials and dignitaries, and the playing of the Austrian National Anthem, the European Union anthem, and one more Debutante dance, the ball officially opened.

At midnight, things got a little wild when one of the business guests asked us to come dance the Quadrille them. An instructor at the called out the dance steps in German while we performed them. Then it gets progressively faster each time. It would have been helpful to have learned the dance ahead of time. I’m sure it wasn’t that complicated, but it was just wild out there not knowing what to do and being packed in so tight! We did our best.

Around 1am, we worked our way up to the upper balcony and enjoyed a sit and sip of some Coke. I can confirm it was just as refreshing as advertised.

Around 3:30 am, most of the business guests we came with had headed home, including the one that had invited us. So, we did ourselves proud dancing the night away and outlasting the locals, and we decided to call it a night. Kathryn’s feet were shot by this point and was her crutch on the slow walk back to the hotel. One last picture before bed.

4am silliness.  What a day!

After a little nap, we headed back out to see a few more sights. That round glass building was were we had dinner the night before.

Getting some pastries from the famous pink Aida shop.

St. Peter’s Church

Looking straight up at the dome

The main alter

An unnamed martyr that has been laying here since 1733. That’s different.

We took a tour of the Vienna State Opera. This is the view from the emperors box. Afterward, we had to rewatch Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation to spot familiar locations

The Haus der Musik museum, chillin with Mozart’s sisters. It was fun to come here with Kathryn.

The Schönbrunn Palace. We came on an after hours tour and practically had the place to ourselves.

After the tour, we went to a performance in the Orangerie.

Then at 3:15 am, we were off, on our way to the airport. So much for sleeping. I don’t think Kathryn ever adjusted to the local time zone!

Finally on final approach to SLC after flying across the top of the world.

Welcome Home!

Thank you so much, Tim and Suzanne, and Sam and Hanna for helping make this trip possible!

You’ve had a birthday shout hooray! We want to sing to you today.
One year older and wiser too. Happy birthday to you!

We had a party with the family at Sam and Hanna’s clubhouse.

We love you Kathryn! Happy Birthday! And with that, birthday season is officially over for the next eight months. Phew!