Mosul

Hello everyone!!! We've finally settled into our new living areas, and are getting into the town to become familiar with the AO. Everyone is doing well, and looking forward to our eventual return to the States. The job is the same (advising/assisting the local security forces), but we've moved from advising an Iraqi Army BDE to advising a Federal Police Division. Our new Area of Operations is within Mosul (specifically the Western side), so it is a bit of a change from the rural areas that we were in before. Our team has also grown from 2 (LTC Reid and myself) to 5 in order to cover down properly on the DIV. I've added some pictures from the top of the ruins along the Tigris River in Mosul. Enjoy and I'll talk to you all later.

Kelly

Boian Car Wash

It seems like we are busier this summer than we were during the school year, but I welcome the busyness it seems to make the time fly by. The boys are in their second set of swim lessons and they are loving being able to swim five days a week. I do have to say that I am so thankful that the lessons are inside because with the crazy weather here in Idaho, I think they would have cancelled more of the classes than the boys would have attended. We are still waiting for summer to show up and the boys were getting a little cabin fever so we decided to have a Boian Family Car wash. They got out all their bikes and scooters and Mom got out the hose, sponges and buckets and all three boys went to town. They had so much fun, even if it was a little cooler out. Obviously I am not sure what got more wet and soapy, the boys or the bikes, but it was definitely a successful adventure!

Kelly has relocated and is settling in at Mosul and finishing up with the transition between the out going unit and his unit. I complain about our rain and cooler temperatures here, but he is suffering through 120 degree temps there. He is a trooper though! For those of you that may not have his new address, here it is:

Kelly Boian
HHC 2-3 BTB (STT)
FOB Marez

APO AE 09334

Well I hope everyone is having a fun filled summer! Until next time.

The Boian Family

I know it has been forever since I last posted but there have been so many things happening in the Boian household. We have had company, Soccer, Baseball, birthdays and even more importantly Kelly's R&R. During R&R we were so busy and it went by so incredibly quickly but we are very thankful for the time we had and are hoping the time flies by until he is home for good, which should be middle of October and then back to Idaho to pick us up by mid November! I haven't posted since Easter so please bear with me as this might be a long one.

Easter was great! My in-laws were able to come down and we had a nice dinner, lots of games and of course tons of candy. The boys always enjoy dying Easter eggs and Ryan loved stealing his brothers Peeps from their baskets.

Kyle has been busy all spring with soccer. He loves to play and is getting better with each season. He is such an active and social kid and it is fun to see him in his element. I signed Tyler up for T-Ball and lets just say it has been an adjustment for me, going from Kyle who is ultra competitive and very focused to Tyler who is carefree and usually watching the butterflies or ants or giving teammates horseback rides during the game. Tyler has had a wonderful time and I am learning just how different brothers can be. It has been a joy to watch both of them!

Right smack dab in the middle of spring sports Kelly was able to take his R&R. It seems crazy to me that he has been gone since August 09, but to be honest the kids have been busy which makes our time move fairly quickly. We were so happy to have him home and we were able to take Kyle out of school for 2 weeks and we took advantage of that and had some real quality family time, which we haven't had a lot of since moving to Fort Irwin and then going straight into a deployment. We jam packed R&R though and it went by so quickly. Within just a few days of Kelly being home we drove up North and walked as a family in Bloomsday, which for those of you that don't know is about 7 1/2 mile course. We broke out our jogging stroller (which had been severely worn from the Irwin sun) and put Tyler and Ryan in it and we had Kyle walk. Kelly and I weren't sure how he was going to do, but to our surprise he walked the entire way without complaining.... you heard me right NO COMPLAINING! I was so stinkin proud of him and he was proud of himself also because he let everyone know at the finish line that he walked the entire way! It is wonderful to see your kids accomplish something that they aren't sure themselves they can do! We had a great time during the race and the weather was wonderful! We would love to continue to do races as a family.

After Bloomsday we went back down to Kuna and Kelly's sister and parents joined us for a few days. The local high school put on an AG Expo and it just so has it that my brother-n-law is one of the AG teachers so we were able to go after hours and experience the animals and see the beautiful plants they had grown. It was a lot of fun. The kids loved the baby chicks and they were able to pick them up and they also loved the little calves that they were able to pet. Kyle and Tyler got a kick out of the baby calf trying to eat their pant legs. Of course they enjoyed the ice-cream they were given. They were told how ice-cream was made and at the end of the presentation they asked "Now where does ice-cream come from?" The correct answer would have been cows, but Tyler very confidently answers "Artic Circle" That is where I take them for ice-cream cones! That boy can always make me laugh. The kids learned a lot and had so much fun. Thanks Uncle Joe, Brett and Aunt Shannon!

Then the final big event was Kyle's 7th Birthday!!! It is truly amazing how quickly those 7 years have gone by. We usually have fairly small, mostly family get togethers for the kids birthdays but this year Kyle had his heart set on a party at a family fun center. They have mini golf, go-garts, laser tag, arcade games and even a jungle gym type place for the little kids to climb around. We decided to go ahead and do it and he had so much fun. To be honest it was a little crazy for me, 6 young boys loaded up on sugar all wanting to go different directions, but with the help of my sister, father-n-law and Kelly we were able to keep some control. Kyle definitely had a birthday he will remember for a while. When asked what the best part of his birthday was Kyle said "having Daddy home" Pretty special. Just a side note, Kyle decided he wanted an Army themed party, I think because his Dad was home. The cake turned out amazing and Kelly decorated it. I usually bake the cake, but Kelly always decorates them and he does such an amazing job. Kyle just loved the cake and all the little details that only a true soldier would think of. Awesome job Kel!!!

Well that is the end of the marathon post. Hopefully it won't be so long until our next one. Life sometimes just takes over and I don't have a minute to breathe let alone update the blog, but I will try and do better. I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day. Until next time.

The Boian Family

New Address

For those of you sending things to Kelly, he has a slight change in his address. Anything that has already been sent should be fine, but this is the address you use until it changes again :-)

MAJ Boian, Kelly

STT/HHC/2-3 ID

FOB Sykes

APO AE 09334

Easter

Happy Easter everyone. Everything has been going well here, looking forward to seeing Laurie and the boys at the end of this month. Take care.

Kelly

Brave One

Ryan has decided he is big enough to cruise the playground now. I have taken him down the slide with me a few times, but now he does it on his own. He loves to go down head first but he is figuring out how to go feet first. His big brothers love to catch him at the bottom! Enjoy the video.

Random Things From the Boian House

I know St. Patty's day was a few weeks ago, but I am just getting my pictures downloaded. I guess that is just not on the top of my priority list these days. The Boian household has been very busy and with the weather becoming nicer it just seems like we are never home, always outside playing or something. Kyle had an assignment where he had to make a Leprachaun trap. I went into panic mode because that is definitely Kelly's thing (he got the creative gene from his Mom). All I can say is thank goodness for Family Fun. Kyle and I had a blast making his trap and it was super easy! We are counting down the days until Kelly makes it home for his mid tour leave. He should be here the end of April and I have a to do list a mile long before he gets here. You always want things to be perfect when they get here, I would assume most people would be that way. I am sure he has no expcectations and is just anxious to see everyone and I am the same way, but you want things to be in order when he comes in. The boys are doing well. Kyle started soccer last week and is loving it and Tyler and Kyle should both be starting baseball soon. It is looking like it is going to be a very busy spring for us. Ryan is just loving the ride :-)

Almost forgot, Ryan got some new shoes (since Uncle Kris said his other ones looked like ballet slippers). Anyway, Ryan loves them... he won't take them off. As you can see in the picture, it doesn't matter if he is dressed or not, if he sees his shoes he wants them on his feet. This is fairly remarkable because he hated shoes just a few months earlier, maybe he was embarrassed because his Mom had him wearing ballet slippers :-)