It's Moni Day!!!

It's finally my day...I hope Billy doesn't do anything stupid.

Four of my favorite ladies in the world.


Look what she put herself through!

Hi everyone. We finally have the grand finale of our family's big month of January. Moni is the only one who can actually claim a real ownership on a day in January. On January 30, 1981 the Good Lord sent the best little girl down to the world. Monica Deann Haag was born at (I have no idea of her birth weight or birth time that is just how I started out the kids' posts). From all accounts, Moni has been a very good person throughout her life. She has always received straight A's and had almost perfect attendance and behavior marks. I am hoping our kids get Monica's gene of determination and hard work.

Getting ready to become a scholastic stud.

Moni's 8th Birthday. Twenty years ago today...

Paul, Moni, Mollie, and Brandon

Can you believe she was already that hot when she was six?


Happy Birthday to Moni.

I think I am going to basically tell the Moni and Billy story. Monica came to Bishop Carroll our sophomore year. I met her on the first day because her locker was caddy-corner below mine. She was gorgeous, outgoing, funny, and tall. As we got to know each other better I started to look forward to passing period more and more. I hoped she would go to her locker in between classes. Towards the end of our sophomore year together, I really started to put on what I thought were the charms. She completely ignored me.

Sooooo HOT! She is beautiful.

The summer in between my sophomore and junior year of high school I told A.J. (who was and still is my best friend) that I was going to go after Monica Haag hard the following school year. A.J. can vouch for me. At summer weights I talked to Moni's little sister, Emily, constantly...about Moni.

When the school year started up I was so pumped to have Moni in a couple classes with me. The one I remember best was religion class with Sr. Mary Ann. Since our names were so close (Haag-Graf) I sat right behind her. I was ALWAYS asking her to go out with me. She was ALWAYS turning me down. Now...some of you are new to the pictures of us, but I have to say that back in the day, 75 pounds ago, I was what one would call a "hottie." I was NOT used to being turned down, especially two and three and fifty-seven times. I decided to take matters into someone else's hands...Garth Brooks.

Garth Brooks was doing a concert in Wichita and had been sold out for a couple of weeks. I asked Moni, in Sr. Mary Ann's class, if she would go out with me. She said no...again. I said, "What if I can get tickets to Garth Brooks?" She said, these were her exact words, "If you can get tickets to Garth Brooks I will go out with you. There is no way you can get tickets to Garth Brooks, so I guess there is no way I will go out with you." My man Brad Goertz, a.k.a. Frank the Tank, a.k.a. Fun Bobby, a.k.a. Goertzie, a.k.a. Pedro made it happen. I took the tickets to class with me, showed them to Moni, asked her again if she would go out with me, and she finally said yes. I had to bribe her to go out with me. What is that?

We went on the date, I charmed her socks off, and the rest is history...Well, kind of. You see, Moni and I are A TON alike. We don't pull any punches. We don't care who sees us get pissed. If one of us thinks we got wronged we are going to throw down. It doesn't matter where. The hallways, the parking lots, the gym, the weightroom, our friends' houses, our houses, church, Buffalo Park, and on and on and on. For that reason people thought that we were too volatile a couple to ever make it. Our parents, our friends, our siblings, our grandparents, our cousins, and on and on and on. Moni and I always knew. The rest was history.

Everybody claims Forrest and I are look-alikes, but after seeing this picture I think Moni had a hand in Forrest's good looks, too.

Let's just go ahead and fast forward to two years ago. It was mid-May when we found out we were pregnant. We had tried and missed a couple times (I don't use the term failed because we hope to meet our first two that we missed on at some point). Moni woke me up to take the test. Let me just say that Moni NEVER wakes up early, but she was so excited. We went into our sonogram when Moni was six weeks along to find out "how pregnant." We found out. I was excited, Moni was realistic. The doctor who helped us to conceive (Dr. Tjaden) was terrific with helping get us set up in Phoenix. He wrote the necessary letters, told us who to call, and even set us up with a family who had already used the Phoenix Perinatal Associates. Everything just kept falling into place.

Dr. Tjaden meeting our "Twin Towers"

When we got down to Phoenix I fell in love with Moni all over again. Becky, Moni, and I kind of felt like the three amigos when we first got down there. None of us knew anybody else there (we met and got to know my mom's cousin Mark and he took the best care of the three of us and Moni and I, and I'm sure Becky, have made a friend for life). There were some nights when Becky would get called in and it would just be Moni and me, against the world. She was incredibly strong while we were down there. She NEVER complained too much. She didn't whine, she didn't feel sorry for herself, she always had the babies on the top of her priority list, and she was a spectacular football watching buddy for me. Monica amazed me so much while we were down there with how much she knew me. She knows that I extremely tight with my family and friends and I really think she made it a point to take their place. She always knew when my teams played and she watched every down of every game with me. What an incredible person to have in my life.

When the day came for the babies to come she was so strong and confident. I know that she knew all of the risks that we were facing that day. I never saw her scared, though. Even when she was in the middle of the birth she was so strong and it gave me confidence. As we went through the ups and downs of having children in the NICU she was always upbeat. I think Monica knows how much I respect her medical opinion and I think there may have been times when she wouldn't tell me or her family the "bad-case scenarios."

As we started bringing the kids home Monica continued to amaze me. She always has been a "night owl" but the kids brought out a new energy. She woke up in the mornings when I went to work and stayed up late because I had to wake up early. She never complained or let me know what the "score" was at. Monica just did what had to be done and taught me how to do all of the things that had to be done, too.

When we got home it was more of the same. She taught me and others how to provide the kids with care that was specific to preemies. She teaches the kids almost all of their tricks and all four of them adore her. When she wakes up in the morning the kids just light up. Their favorite times seem to be when the six of us are together playing.

Monica works almost full-time. She is a mother overtime. She is a wife overtime. She is always supportive of me. I am a 28 year old college student and she doesn't look down on me or complain to me. She tells me to get it done and she offers help whenever she can. I love my wife so much. She is my best friend.

Happy Birthday Sweet Moni. We love you so much!!!

Daddy, Pius, Forrest, Danna, Laine