Ice Climbing

Paul ended 2024 and rung in 2025 with an ice climbing roadtrip with a friend, starting in Ouray, CO, and ending in Cody, WY. Ice climbing continues to be great fun, so in February, Vanessa, Paul, and another of Paul's friends returned to Ouray for more ice climbing! Vanessa really took a liking to ice climbing, and we're planning on going back to Ouray again this winter!

Gehrings in Cali

February also brought Vanessa's parents out to California, where we all had a great time exploring the local area, hiking, and eating lots of great food!

New Nieces and Nephews

In April, Paul and Vanessa flew back to Indiana to spend some time with Paul's family for a few days. We really enjoyed catching up with all the nieces and nephews, including new additions Elio Horste and Adrienne Snyder!

Paul's New Job

After nearly a decade at Amazon, Paul has finally moved to a new company! In response to Amazon requesting all employees return to the office five days per week, Paul spent some time interviewing, and in October accepted a new job at DoorDash! This job is a promotion for Paul (from "Senior" to "Staff" software engineer) and is an opportunity to work on some really cutting-edge problems in the productionization of Large Language Model AI systems.

Vanessa's Residency

Vanessa continues to work towards her planned residency graduation in the summer of 2027! As she's now a third year resident, she's gearing up to apply for fellowships now. To improve her fellowship match odds, Vanessa has been doing research work over the past year, and was invited to present her research onstage at the 2025 meeting of the American Urogynecologic Society (AUGS) in Vancouver, Canada!

Nick and Lindsey's Wedding

October wrapped up with the wedding of Vanessa's brother Nick to our new Sister-in-Law, Lindsey! The wedding was beautiful, and it was lovely to catch up with Vanessa's extended family!

Paul's Climbing

As always, Paul has been busy climbing! Paul's been focused on climbing larger walls this season, culminating in Paul climbing the 3000-foot-tall El Capitan in Yosemite National Park for his first time ever! Though he also did plenty of ice climbing, shorter rock climbs, and even some other multi-day climbs (including Leaning Tower, which is the steepest bigwall climb in North America) it's hard to beat the accomplishment of climbing El Cap for the first time!

Gallery

We hope you have a safe and happy holiday season, and an excellent new year ahead. We've included a few more pictures from our year in the gallery below, and can't wait to hear about what you've been up to over this past year in your own lives. Don't be a stranger!

Paul ice climbing

Vanessa ice climbing

Paul topping out the route 'Bird of Fire'

Vanessa and Adrienne

Paul on the final pitch of the route 'Zee Tree'

Paul on the route 'Snake Dike' up Half Dome

Vanessa's residency class

Vanessa at work

Paul grabbing a moment to eat on the way to North Peak

Vanessa at AUGS in Vancouver

Paul on the route 'Lurking Fear'

Paul on the route 'Central Pillar of Frenzy'