My name is Sherri Krista Goff. I was born January 31, 1977. My parents are Glenn David Goff and Joy Louise Decker. I have two brothers, Jeremy and Nathaniel, and one sister named Heather. I was born second of four children. Our family lived in the small town of Cortez Colorado. I was born and raised there.
My father was a teacher of music and art. My mother stayed home with my brothers, sister and I until my youngest brother Nathaniel was in first grade. My mom decided to go back to college when all of us were in school full time. My parents always did fun activities with us; played with us, read to us, and taught us a lot of things, particularly arts and crafts. Both of my parents were very creative people. My dad was really into music. He had a Masters Degree in Recreation and Music from Brigham Young University. I was taught how to play the piano by both of my parents when I was about five. When they couldn't get me to pay attention they started trading lessons with another family, to teach me. My dad taught the kids from this family and I started going to their house so their mom could teach me! I was a bit of a hyper active child. I was always getting into stuff, trying to make something or trying to explore my way through my parents' drawers, and other places I shouldn't be looking! When my parents put us to bed at night, I remember waiting for my other siblings to fall asleep, when they did I would sneak out and sit in the hallway while my parents were watching TV and watch it with them. I don't think my parents ever really knew I did that!
One of my fondest memories as a child was playing with my brothers and sister. We played all kinds of things together, from pioneers, to house and from blocks to building forts. My dad built us a playhouse one time out of an old camper. That was our club house for years. Our parents didn't have a lot of money, but they gave us a wonderful life. We always knew they loved us no matter what. We always felt we could talk to them about anything. My parents had a great love for the outdoors. I remember going camping and fishing all the time. I'll never forget the times that my dad would take his guitar out by the campfire and play songs for us. We always sang and told stories around the campfire. My parents taught us how to enjoy and be thankful for the art and beauty of nature. I have so many wonderful and beautiful memories from when I was a small child. I could go on and on with different meaningful stories.
A story I'll never forget is when my little brothers were playing around in our houses' crawl space, and they found something! They came up to me and said "Sherri come here, we have to show you what we found" "but you cannot tell mom, you have to promise!" So I went with them to the back yard and lo and behold they had handfuls of tampons. They said "look at this dynamite we found" They found a bunch of old tampons in the crawl space of our house from the previous owners, they just had a huge bucket full of them, they were just the cotton things with the strings hanging there, no applicators, so they thought for sure because of the string that they had found dynamite! They were about four and six at the time. It was so funny! I'll never forget that story. There are many funny stories like this one.
I have always been a very creative person, even as a child. I was always trying to make stuff, I don't care what it was, painting, writing poetry, singing. I am addicted to such things. My grandmother Frankie May Goff, whom I have always been very close to, taught me how to sew when I was about five years old. One day I went to her house and she gave me a really old Singer sewing machine, some card board, a pen and some old scraps of fabric. She told me to trace and cut the fabric into squares. Then she taught me how to sew them together. I soon learned how to make a quilt. Grandma Goff was an amazing artist. She sewed shawls for all the Navajo Indians where we lived; she did sand painting as well as oil and water color painting. She taught me how to do many things. She also loved yard sales. I remember going to tons of garage sales and yard sales with her. My grandma had a love for collecting antiques, everything from bottles to dishes and dolls. This is probably where I got my love for antiques and old stuff as well. If I had a choice between going to the mall and shopping for new stuff all day or going to some old barn full of junk, I would most definitely pick the old barn. I love digging through old junk whenever I get the chance to do so! I had to have gotten this trait from my Grandma Goff she taught me to find beauty in all things.
My grandparents on the other side, which are my moms' parents, Tom and Ellie Decker taught me many things as I grew up as well. I learned a lot about love from them. For as long as I can remember my Grandma Decker was afflicted with Multiple Sclerosis. Throughout my childhood, she was in a wheel chair. My grandparents lived on a Dairy Farm, where my mom grew up. I spent many days with my grandma Ellie. She couldn't walk or do much of anything for herself, but I had a lot of long talks with her. She told me a lot of stories about when she was a little girl in Holland during World War II, and of many of the experiences that she and her family went through during that horrible time in History. I can't imagine how hard it was for her, to not be able to do anything for herself except sit in a reclining chair all day. She raised 6 children, my mother included. I honestly don't remember her saying anything bad about anyone. Even though she had been in a wheel chair for twenty years, she was so thankful for everything. Every time the family was all together and people were gossiping, my grandma always had something positive to say. She was always so positive even though she was in the circumstance of having to sit in her chair, alone all day long. She taught me that the good in our lives always out weigh the bad. She taught many people to never give up, no matter how bad things might get. One day she told me that she was kind of feeling sorry for herself so she decided that she needed to do something for someone else. She came up with the idea that every single day, she would call someone to see how they were doing, regardless of how she was feeling, she wanted to help others. She couldn't walk, she couldn't take herself to the bathroom, she could even hardly feed herself, and she had the greatest love for others than anyone whom I have ever seen. She knew there wasn't a lot she could do for others, but she knew she could call people to let them know she was there if they needed to talk or needed an ear to listen. I have always been amazed throughout my life, that someone who was is a situation as bad as hers could be so positive throughout their bad times. This has been an example of love and duration to me throughout my life. Whenever I was having a hard time, or I was feeling sorry for my self, I would think of my beautiful spirited Grandma Ellie, who never let her spirits down, no matter how bad her situation was. My Grandpa Tom Decker, Ellie's husband, also has shown me a great example of love in my life. He had the greatest love for my grandma. I don't think I've seen another person love someone like he loved her. My grandpa for years, would go out and milk cows about six times a day, he worked so hard on the farm, he would take care of my grandma in her every need, and every single night he would brush her hair, rub her feet and tell her over and over again that he loved her. I know there were times when he was tired and he felt no one did anything for him yet he still worked very hard to make sure my grandma felt special and loved. Toward the end of my grandmas life, we found out she had Leukemia on top of her Multiple Sclerosis.
The doctors told us that she only had a week or so to live. Because of her MS they couldn't give her any kind of Chemo-therapy or anything. We all had to watch her die slowly; this was so hard on my grandpa. She held on for about 3 months longer than expected, and we all think that it was because she was so worried about my grandpa, she loved him so much and she was afraid to leave him, when she was in an awake state, all she could say to everyone was to take care of Tom. It was absolutely horrible for him to watch her suffer; he just wanted her to pass on. One day she told my grandpa that Jerry, who was my grandfathers' brother, whom, had died about fifteen years earlier was waiting for her, she kept seeing him. I think he was sent there to retrieve her spirit. My Grandpa finally told her that next time Jerry comes that he wanted her to go with him. In a way it was comical. He would just sit there and say "When Jerry comes again Ellie, you go with him" "its time for you to go with him."
I've learned so much from so many people in my life. I just recently graduated from college with my Degree in Graphic and Web Design. Before I decided to go back to college, I use to design and create lots of stuff to sell at craft boutiques. I absolutely love making things. I created this blog, so that I can perhaps give some" stay at home moms" who are trying to make some money, some great ideas. I tried making everything from candles to dolls, and I succeeded. You can do anything you want to do, you just have to take that step and try things, and before you try them you have to have ideas. Crafting is very addictive for me! I can't get enough of it!
I've learned so much from so many people in my life. I just recently graduated from college with my Degree in Graphic and Web Design. Before I decided to go back to college, I use to design and create lots of stuff to sell at craft boutiques. I absolutely love making things. I created this blog, so that I can perhaps give some" stay at home moms" who are trying to make some money, some great ideas. I tried making everything from candles to dolls, and I succeeded. You can do anything you want to do, you just have to take that step and try things, and before you try them you have to have ideas. Crafting is very addictive for me! I can't get enough of it!
