Oh May....Oh May!!

May has brought about another big adventure for Lee and me.....we are MOVING to Albuquerque, New Mexico for Lee to be the Associate AD for the Development at the University of New Mexico Athletics Department!!  We are so excited and blessed by this amazing opportunity!  Here's how the rest of May turned out for us....

The first week in May started off very exciting for us.  My mom came into town to be with us when we found out the sex of Baby De Leon.  Well, if you haven't heard by now, we are having a BOY!!  Lee and I couldn't be any more excited!  Mom also accompanied me to my "Gender Revealing" lunch with some of my Tucson girlfriends.  That night we also had a celebratory dinner at our favorite Tucson restaurant, Gavi, before mom headed back to Texas the next day.  We also had Lee's staff end of the year party at our house that week.  It sure was fun having a house full of college kids!  The week ended with dinner with the Barney's, lunch with a girlfriend, girls night to dinner and see "Something Barrowed", spending the day with Lee's donors at La Paloma at the pool and playing golf, a date night, and my first kind-of Mother's Day.  Here are a few pics....

The second week was crazy busy for us but again, lots of fun.  I worked all week with one of our mentors from church at his photography business helping him shoot a dance studio.  It was lots of fun and I got see and meet lots of new people, which is always nice!  We started off the week celebrating Lee's sister, Kate's birthday from afar, dinner with the Ingrams, dinner with a girlfriend of mine, dinner at the Rohrets, and ended the week with a perfect date night to Lil' Abners....man, I love that place!  Also, at the end of this week, we found out that Lee and I would be flying out to Albuquerque on Monday morning and Lee would be interviewing at UNM all day on Tuesday.  So, here's how the next week went.....

On Monday the 16th we flew to Albuquerque or "The Q" as we call it and Lee and I got to explore an area of the city and have dinner with someone from the athletic department.  We had a blast and loved the city even though we never in a million years thought we would ever be moving to New Mexico.  All day Tuesday the 17th Lee interviewed with UNM while I went around the city with a "mutual friend" looking and exploring all parts of Albuquerque in case we would move here in a couple of weeks.  Lee and I met up at the airport on Tuesday late afternoon and flew back to Tucson.  On Wednesday, we went about our day as normal in Tucson while UNM interviewed one last person.  Then, on Thursday, May 19th our lives literally changed when Lee was offered the position late that afternoon and accepted it!  He would then start for UNM on June 6th.  Lee and I went for celebratory dinner at Sullivan's Steakhouse that night and had a blast dreaming about our new life with our new baby in tow.  On Friday of that week, we went to the Dancing with the Tucson Stars Gala with Greg and Regina Byrne and watched Regina compete in the competition.  Sadly, she didn't win but we all had a blast!  Then, on Saturday, we spent the day visiting our friends, the Mospans, in Phoenix and going to a U of A donor's daughter's graduation party.  We had a blast and then Sunday Lee played guitar one last time at Casas and I attended a baby shower before we started packing.

Finally, the week we had been waiting for for three months was finally here....our "Babymoon" to Cabo San Lucas!!  We had booked this trip three months ago, not knowing that we would be moving and that Lee would need one last relaxing vacation before he started his new hectic job!  We spent 6 days and 5 nights in beautiful Cabo at the Villa del Arco Resort and Spa and it literally was paradise!  We slept in every day, had breakfast, layed out by the pool and ocean, went to Lover's Beach, walked under the famous Arch, eat great lunches and dinners, went into downtown and saw The Hangover, Part II, ate at Cabo Wabo, and had a couples massage.  Overall, it was SOOOOO relaxing and just a perfect trip.  Here are a few pics....

We came back to Tucson just in time to spend Memorial Day weekend with our church friends at lunch, packing up parts of our house, and spending Memorial Day dinner with Chrissy and Ben Lorenzen.  We sure are going to miss everyone when we're gone!

Hope everyone had a great May!  We are definitely looking forward to the future and a lifetime of friendship with our Tucson friends.  We love ya'll!

Marchin' On!

March has been my absolute favorite month so far because we were able to finally tell the world that

WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!

We've had a blast sharing our big news and can't wait to expand our sweet little family!  Here's how the rest of March went for the De Leon household.....

Lee started off the month with worship rehearsal practice for church, attending a few doctor's appointments with me, U of A basketball games, and playing guitar on Sunday morning.

The following week Lee worked late, I worked a bunch that week, we had lunch with Camille, we watched lots of basketball for the Pac-10 Tournament, and had a great time at the 241 social at the Hutchinson's house.  Such a relaxing week and a calm before our crazy storm that followed in the next three weeks.

Of course, we had to watch the bachelor finale on Monday of the next week.  I was so happy that Brad picked Emily....haha!  I had more doctor appointments and worked like crazy before heading to Texas for a week on Thursday while Lee worked the NCAA Tournament at McKale.  He loved being a Team Host to Penn State....too bad the team lost so early in the rounds at U of A.  I had a blast hanging out with my parents, brother, nephew, and grandparents.  Mom and I got to do a lot of shopping for maternity clothes and I definitely got some really cute things!!  Here are a few pics from my trip home.



I returned home on the following Wednesday night and in time to watch U of A take on Duke on Thursday night.  What an exciting game?!  The Cats won the Sweet 16 game and on Saturday we headed over to the Welches house to watch the Cats take on UConn in the Elite 8.  So sad the Cats lost but we had a great time at the Welches!

Finally, the last week in March was filled with Pi Phi meetings, Lee's friend Trevor came to visit and stay with us, lunch with Jenny, dinner with the Ingram's, the the Young's farewell party to finish off the month.  What a joyous month of marchin on for us!

Fabulous February!

Well, it looks like I am already behind on blogging for 2011 and that may only get worse as the year goes on!  February was just fabulous for us and here's a little of what we did this month....

Lee started off the month working looooooong hours as he put together his very first "thank-a-thon" at U of A where the student athletes call the majority of the donors and thank them for their support.  Overall, that went very well and was a HUGE success.  I am so proud of my Hubs!!  I started off the month working, going to girls lunches with my girlfriends, celebrating my grandmother's 81st birthday from afar, attending our ABF teacher's meeting wtih Lee, going to see the Gym Cats (U of A's gymnastics team), and going to a Super Bowl Party at the Perry's house with Lee.

The next week was filled with celebrating Aunt Susan's birthday (again from afar), having dinner with the Campbell's, going to Betsy's birthday dinner at Blanco (yum!), lunch with sweet friends, and finishing the week with my mom and Gran coming into town.  We had a blast getting pedicures, having dinner at Gavi, going to the casino, church, and lunch.  Mom even did some baking while she was in town....I love when she is here!

The following week started off with Valentine's Day.  Oh, how I love getting pampered by my Hubs!  We had a nice dinner at the Ritz Carlton here in Tucson and I could just sink my head into that chocolate lava cake right now.  It was sooo delicious!!  We also had our 241 Leadership Team meeting at our house that week as well as a few doctor's appointments, the U of A basketball game vs. Washington State, dinner with all of my former BGCT co-workers, and we finished off the week with an amazing U of A basketball game against Washington.  I just love the Cats!

Finally, the last week in February was filled with Pi Phi meetings, FCA Breakfast with the Pros, lunch with sweet Alexis and Betsy, another doctor appointment, Lee heading to Texas to spend time with his family, dinner with the Ingram's and Rohret's, girls dinner with Betsy at Cheesecake Factory, and another around of Pi Phi meetings before picking Lee up at the airport.

What a fun and relaxing month we had.  We are so blessed with a wonderful and amazing friends and family to share it with!

Oh my Heavens, It's 2011!

I can't believe it is already 2011!  We moved to Tucson in the summer of 2008 and I remember thinking 2010 seemed so far away and now that year has come and gone and we're already in 2011.  WOW....time really does fly!

January was a great month for us.  It brought changes to our lives and good changes at that!  Starting in January I went part-time at my job and I really love it.  It took a little while for me to not feel guilty about it and to really treasure this blessing that God has blessed us with in this time in our lives.  I love being able to get the housework completed, errands run, and dinner cooked by the time Lee gets home so we can have the rest of the night and weekends to just hang out with each other.

We started off the year, celebrating Mom's birthday from afar in Tucson and not really doing much that day.  It was cold here in Tucson.  The first week of January also brought about a date night, Lee still teaching his winter class at U of A, the U of A basketball game vs. Cal, lunch with my girlfriends, happy hour celebrating a friend's birthday, watching the Cotton Bowl on TV (Gig 'Em!), and U of A basketball game vs. Stanford.  We also had the famous "Tragedy in Tucson" shooting this week.  What a sad time to be a Tucsonan.

The second week in Tucson brought about me attending my final Race for the Cure All-Committee meeting, the same night we hosted a "National Championship" party with lots of our Tucson friends, we also had dinner at the Ingram's house, dinner at the Secrest's house, Lee was off of work randomly for President Obama's speech in McKale (building Lee offices in) on the tragedy, and finally the U of A vs. ASU basketball game that Johhny came into town to go with us to.

The third week of Tucson was filled with having MLK day off, getting my hair a much needed cut and highlight, dinner with the Lorenzen's, and girls lunch while the guys hiked.  Short but fun-filled week!

Finally, the last week of January was filled with Lee attending SAAC meeting, Tommy coming to visit us from Lake Charles, Louisiana, dinner at the fabulous Sam Hughes, Sports Management Association meeting, U of A vs. UCLA basketball game, my brother's 28th birthday, the annual Diamond and Platinum Wildcat Club reception, the U of A vs. USC basketball game, and finally attending my monthly Pi Phi AAC meeting.  I sure have missed all of these ladies.

I can't believe we didn't take any pictures in January but we sure had a great month.  Hope you did too!

December to Remember!

This was definitely a month to remember, and we are so grateful for all that God has blessed us with!

We started out the month with our good friends, Shannon and Jonathan Badger, coming to visit us in Tucson.  While they were in town we saw the U of A football game vs. ASU.  Wished the game had ended better but we still had a blast with great company.  The guys played golf and we had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Tucson, El Charro.  We also explored Mt. Lemmon on Saturday and went to the U of A basketball game on Sunday.  Here are a few pics....enjoy!



Shannon and Jonathan enjoying the football game

Shannon and me ontop of Mt. Lemmon

Jonathan and Lee ontop of Mt. Lemmon



The next week was filled with my parent's 30th Wedding Anniversary....congrats Mom and Dad!!  We also had our Sunday School Class Leadership Team meeting at our house, the U of A basketball game vs. Cal State Fullerton, Lee's staff Christmas Party at our house, drove to Phoenix for the Sun's basketball game and spent the night at the Mospan's awesome house, spent the day with the Fulton's playing golf in Anthem, AZ and shopping, and finally our 241 Sunday School Class Christmas Party.  What a jam-packed week we had!  Here's a few pics...

Santa and his elf...a.k.a. Tom and Derek

Lee's interns playing Taboo

Lee and me at the Phoenix Suns' game

James, Baby Zack, Brandon, and Lee at our Sunday School Class Christmas Party

Ready for the white elephant gift exchange to begin at our 241 Christmas Party



The following week was filled with my Race for the Cure meetings, Lee's Development Staff Christmas Party at La Paloma's Azul Bar, U of A basketball game vs. NAU, my Komen "Holiday" Party, and a double date with the Ingram's....what a way to end the week!

Finally, the week of Christmas.....my favorite week of the entire year, quite possibly.....Lee started teaching his "winter-mester" class at U of A, I went to Lucinda's baking party (such a blast!), our friend's parents came to spend the night with us all the way from South Bend, Indiana.  This is the couple that we spend the weekend with when we go back for Notre Dame football games.  I absolutely adore the Ellison's and they are such Godly people to learn from!  While the Ellison's were in town, we had dinner at Sam Hughes Place before the U of A vs. Robert Morris basketball game and just hung out after the game and the next morning before work.  I really enjoyed seeing Steve and Caryn and hope they come back for another visit.

Ah, Christmas Eve!  This is the day we left for our first-ever ski trip with Lee and me and both of our families to Lake Tahoe.  Lee and I grew up skiing for the past twenty years but have never skiied together.  It was so fun to spend Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the next two days on the mountain with each other, our families, and celebrating the birth of our Savior!  We had dinner every night at either my parents condo or Lee's parents condo, skiied Christmas Day and the next two days, ate lunch at the Snowflake Lodge over looking Lake Tahoe and at my parents condo, Santa visited us at the condos, had chruch while skiing at the top of the mountain, and had lots of laughs over wine.  We already wish we could go back!  Here are a few pics....enjoy!

Christmas Eve Dinner at my parent's condo

Mom and me taking a ski break on Christmas Day....don't we look festive?

Merry Christmas from Lacey and Lee!

Hubs with Lake Tahoe in the background 

Lunch at Snowflake Lodge

Christmas Dinner at Lee's parent's condo

All of us skiing minus dad...



The last week of the month was pretty intense but sooooo much fun!  We had 3 trips in 7 days and we will always remember how much fun we had this Christmas season!  We came back from Lake Tahoe the night of the 27th or more like 12:15 a.m. the morning of the 28th.  Went to bed at 1:30 a.m., woke up at 4:00 a.m., and left the house at 5:15 a.m. to catch the U of A football team chartered flight to San Antonio, TX for the Alamo Bowl.  We arrived in San Antonio on the morning of the 28th and headed straight to the official Alamo Bowl luncheon.  Then we took a 2-hour nap and headed out to another official U of A afternoon event, before taking a $60 round trip taxi ride to eat dinner at our favorite Tex-Mex place, Pappasitos.  Finally, on the night of the 28th we had one last donor event that started at 9:00 p.m.  I think we were back at out hotel (on the Riverwalk!) by 11:00 p.m.  On Wednesday, we slept in and had lunch at County Line BBQ on the Riverwalk with our good friends, The Engstrom's.  They drove in from Austin just to see us....so sweet!  Wednesday afternoon we had an early dinner with my best friend from college, Jennifer, and her sweet husband, Brett, before we headed off to the Alamo Bowl game and she headed off to work as a nurse in the NICU.  The game was a blast but too bad our football team did not show up....would have been more fun if they had won.  On Thursday, we woke up and headed straight for the airport to take the chartered flight back to Tucson.  Here are more pics....

Dinner at Pappasitos....Yum!

Texas BBQ Lunch!

Love Love Love the Enstrom Family!

Jenn and me...not our best pic but the only one I got that night.

U of A mini pep-rally before the game

The Alamo Bowl game....



Finally, to wrap up the week we drove to Las Cruses, NM five hours after we got home from the Alamo Bowl to spend the night before we headed to El Paso to watch Notre Dame in the Sun Bowl.  Can you say third trip in 7 days?!  We woke up on New Year's Eve, drove to El Paso, and took pure delight in watching the Irish beat the Miami 'Canes., had dinner at Rudy's before driving back to Tucson, and crashed in our own bed by 11:00 p.m.  Can you believe we didn't even stay up to watch the ball drop on NYE?  It was FREEZING during the game (32 degrees and snowing) but we had a blast.  Here are a few more pics for you to enjoy!

Right before the game started....GO IRISH!

ND band playing "Deep in the Heart of Texas" with the TX flag and in the shape of TX....love it! 

The Army's Golden Knights flew in with the ND flag, the game ball, and the Texas flag 

Here come the Irish!!!!!!!!!

Irish victory is pure sweetness :)

And the winner of the Sun Bowl is....the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame!



What a way to end 2010!  We have been so blessed this year and hope you all had a great year too.  Welcome 2011 and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Not to Mention November....

Well, as you can see my the date of this post that December has been a very busy month so far and I didn't want it to get too far from November before I made my November post....hence the title!

WOW!  We really did have a wonderful November.  God has truly blessed us more than we deserve.  It reminds me of John 1:16 "From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another."  God is so good and we are so loved by Him.

This first week of November is always a special one for our family.  It's the week of my dad's birthday and my grandfather's birthday which is also the same day Lee's grandfather passed away four years ago.  It's such a bittersweet week but one filled with many great memories.

Also, in the first week of the month, we enjoyed spending some time at the Stine's house watching Monday Night Football between Lee's team (the Texans) and Mark's team (the Colts).  Needless to say the Colts won big.  We also had our 241 Sunday School class Leadership Team meeting at our house, Lee had rehearsal for the worship band, my weekly late-night conference call for work, dinner with the Secrest's at a new steakhouse in town (and thanks to Alexis's parents for picking up the tab!  So sweet of them), dinner with the Ingram's, and finally Lee playing guitar at church Sunday morning.  What a great way to celebrate that week!

The second week was tons of fun too!  I had to work late on Monday night for the Race for the Cure all-committee meeting and on Tuesday, I planned a retirement party for the first-ever Komen Southern Arizona employee.  Lots of fun and hard work but well worth it.  We miss you Susan!  We also had dinner at the U of A Athletics Director's house on Friday night.  We were so honored to be asked to over to their house and had a great time with all of the former U of A Hall of Fame players, donors, and guests.  We really are blessed by Lee's job and the perks that come along with it! :)  Also, that weekend, I had a Director's orientation for the Race for the Cure on Saturday before meeting Lee and the Secrest's at Arizona Stadium for the Wildcats football game that night.  Finally on Sunday, after church, I leaded to one last final retirement luncheon for a co-worker while Lee went to the U of A basketball game.

The third week was another full week for us but again, so much fun!  We had dinner at the Pogue's house, Lee had band rehearsal for church, of course my weekly late-night conference call, U of A basketball game, dinner with the Ingram's and Rohret's, sweet Bridget's baby shower, getting my hair highlighted by the wonderful Andrea, Lee playing guitar at church, our Sunday School class annual Thanksgiving Potluck Lunch, another U of A basketball game, and finally dinner with the Hutchinson's.  We are so blessed to have so many wondeful people in our lives.  Are you getting the theme of me feeling so blessed lately?!

Finally, Thanksgiving Week!!! :)  Before we headed off to Texas for Thanksgiving, I had a VERY late night Race meeting and boy was I ever glad to get that meeting over with.  We then headed to Dallas on Tuesday night and spent Wednesday shopping and heading to Ft. Worth for Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family.  So much fun and for the first time in many years every member of the family was there!  Thanksgiving Day, we had lunch with my mom's side of the family and then headed home to watch the Cowboys game and the Aggies game.  The Ags beat the Longhorns to make it an extra special Thanksgiving Day for us.  On Friday, we had brunch with my mom's dad and some of the family before driving down to Houston to spend the weekend with Lee's family.



Friday night, we ate our beloved Luling, TX BBQ that Lee's parents picked up for us on the way back from San Antonio while watching the U of A football game on TV.  On Saturday, we had family pictures made, celebrated our Niece's 4th birthday, and watched the Irish beat the Trojans.....great day!  Sunday, we went to church with Lee's mom, went to the Houston Texans NFL game, and then had some of our Houston friends over for dinner.  So great to see everyone!  Then Monday, we drove back to Dallas and then fly back to Tucson.  Gotta love those travel days!


Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and November.  So excited for Christmas in a couple of days!

One & Only October

Oh, October....as most of you know, is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and I never really realized what that meant until this past month since I work at Susan G. Komen for the Cure now.  Wow!  I am just glad I survived that month (no pun intended!).  Let's just say that I worked at least 60 if not 70 or 80 hours each week and put on or worked 42 events in just the month of October.  No wonder I am completely exhausted!

In addition to all the craziness at my job, Lee's job was as equally as busy as mine that month.....and people wonder why we don't have kids.  We need to stop working so much first!

The first week of October was filled with a date night (rare these days) with Lee at On the Border (oh tex-mex how I love you), the Notre Dame vs. Boston College football game, meetings at church and for church, Lee's rehearsal, happy hour with all of my former co-workers at Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson, working Tucson Meet Yourself folk-life festival in downtown Tucson, double date with the Ingrams, Lee went to 241's man lunch, U of A vs. Oregon State football game with the Roherts, and then Lee played guitar on Sunday morning.



In the second week, I worked early and late quite a bit with Race for the Cure and morning breakfast meetings.  That week and weekend my mom also came into town and we did a whole lot but didn't take any pictures.  What's up with that?  Lee also traveled out to Idaho and Washington with the U of A football team for the Annual Donor Trip for the Washington State and U of A game.

The third week was quite boring as we just worked mostly.  I managed to squeeze in time to get an eye exam....real fun, I know!  Lee also had worship band rehearsal and I had more early and late night Komen meetings and events.  On Friday night, our churh had a 50's Sock Hop that we went to with several couples from our Sunday School class.  On Saturday, we had the U of A vs. Washington football game and we brought the Welch's along with us....such a fun couple!



The fourth week was absolutely insane but fun at the same time!  I worked 7 days this week....eeesh!  I had Race for the Cure late night meetings, we went to Fleming's for Lee's 29th birthday (annual bday dinner!), I worked a drag racing event for Komen, Lee had a "guy's night" with the guys for his bday, celebrated Joshua's birthday at Blanco, went to Lee's donor's The Repp's Halloween Party, Casas Street Fair on Sunday morning where Lee worked the cotton candy booth, and I worked for Komen on Sunday afternoon at the SPAghetti Dinnner.

Needless-to-say, we are glad that October is over but I know that it was all worth it in the end. 
Imagine a world without breast cancer!