Seven Springs, Spring Snow!

I have come to almost rely on the fact that there will a final whopper of a spring storm before the summer heat sets in. Winter wears off and the temperature starts to climb, but then comes one last cold, stormy, wintery day. Thank the heavens! Usually in March, but occasionally in April. This years was in March and it left a mark on the desert that few Phoenicians can ignore. White capped mountains and cactus.
This year when the storm rolled in on a Friday night we of course woke up Saturday morning and piled in the car. We were first off to have lunch with Grandma and Papa, then on a family adventure to find some snow. We ended up in the Seven Springs area with Getman and Josh. It was fun. There was enough snow on the ground for all the kids to have a snowball fight and for Abi to realize nature was almost touching her... we all know what that now means. The sad, but coolest thing was the recovery mission we accidentally stumbled upon. I took a few pictures before I realized exactly what was going on, then I felt bad. Apparently the night before there was a small aircraft that crashed in the mountains. We got to "our spot" just as the helicopter carrying the wreckage came over the ridge in front of us. Crazy. ...

The helicopter made probably 4 trips back and forth loading wreckage onto the flatbed that was waiting in clearing there. We saw engines, wings, the whole plane get gently placed on the trailer and then they just drove off. After looking into it apparently it was a plane from a flight school here in the valley. There were 4 people on board. Sad, but we won't dwell on the morbid. We have desert snow to play with!

Emi and Squish, before she realized nature was all around her.

...and after. In tears on the way to the safety of the car.

A final farewell.

Emily noticed on our way in that all the cars on their way out had little snowmen decorating their hoods. So that meant she just had to make us one too. She named him, I forget what it was but he survived almost the whole way home!