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!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Here are some of the highlights from the holidays.

It was Eliza’s year to top the Christmas tree this year.  She did a great job.

She really enjoyed learning some Christmas songs this year.

Eliza’s Christmas piano recital.  Landon got to play a piece he’s been working on as well. And Ashley played her violin for a song. It’s fun to see these kids musical talents develop.

Baking Christmas cookies from a neighbor gift.

We did Christmas lights this year. We’ve really enjoyed them!

We (Kathryn) had a lot of fun with our Elf on the Shelf.

Lots of foosball tournaments.

The girls had friends over for gingerbread house decorating.

Sunday portrait.

Christmas party with the Hawkers.

Christmas jello.

I busted out the trumpet for my annual Christmas music performance.

Tim and Suzanne joined us for Christmas Eve dinner.

Candles and oil lamps lit our dinner.

All decked out in our Christmas PJs.

I had some fun printing out some cool coupons on the 3D printer.

Merry Christmas morning!  What a fun day!

Cashing in on the escape room coupon.

Laser tag kit from a Mark Rober Hack Pack box. When you get hit, your goggles go dark.

We zoomed up to Idaho for a New Year’s Eve party.

Looking good!

The traditional glasses picture!

We had a pretty epic dance party!

Landon wanted on my shoulders.

Then Eliza.

Then Ashley.

Then we did a stack!

Then Zoey wanted in too!

Welcome 2025! We went skiing at Pomerelle with Josie and Jimmy’s family. At the excellent recommendation of Josie, we got a harness and leash for Landon with this being his first time skiing. This is definitely the best way to teach a little kid how to ski.

It took two runs down the bunny hill and one and a half runs down Milk before I felt Landon was ready to go on his own. I unclipped his leash while we were skiing and let him go. After a couple dozen yards, he looked back and realized he was all on his own. Like a boss!

Lunch at the lodge. Ah, memories.

Landon and Caroline were ski buddies.

Ashley and me. Kathryn was behind the camera. Eliza was off bombing down the “black diamond” run Instructor with Avery and Laura. She bragged that she went down the whole thing without any turns. Some things never change!

Meanwhile, Kacho and Zoey stayed with Mom and Dad at home. After skiing, we rendezvoused with them at the freeway and loaded up for home.

We stopped at Tim and Suzanne’s house and had some dinner and then left the kids for a sleepover. What a trip! What a great break! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

It’s birthday season and I’m up!  Happy Birthday to me 🙂 Kathryn put on a wonderful concert the day before and we brought all the kids.  Lots of fun!

Yum yum!

Kids make birthdays a lot of fun!

Eliza created this clever game using a magnet behind the paper to maneuver the little man and the goal was to get the chicken into the box.  She’s always dreaming up fun creations.

Birthday dinner at the Hawker’s.  Incredible food.  And then we had an ice cream sundae bar afterwards.  Happy chaos.  Afterwards, we had a nice quiet chat with Tim and Suzanne.  Thanks for the fun evening!

Landon’s last birthday gift to me.  He wanted me to pull out his front tooth on my birthday!  Mission accomplished.

The kids write the sweetest notes.  They are the most prized birthday gifts.  From Ashley:

From Eliza:

From Landon, who insisted he do this entirely on his own without any assistance:

Thanks everyone for helping me have a special birthday!  I love you all!