June....

June was a month filled with many emotions as we said goodbye to our friends and our first home in Tucson and moved to Albuquerque.  This time in our lives is definitely bittersweet but we are really looking forward to the future too!

The first week of June was filled with one last doctor's appointment for me, Lee's U of A going away party, our 241 going away party at the Ingram's house, lunch with my old Boys & Girls Clubs co-workers, our Tucson going away party at the Dubs' house, packing and driving to Albuquerque, exploring the "Q" once we got here, dinner in a quaint town outside of ABQ called Corrales, and our first ABQ church experience.  Whew!  What a week but it sure was fun! :)

Lee started off the second week of June with his first day as the Associate Athletics Director for Development at UNM Athletics.  We are so honored and humbled that Lee is in this position at his age and stage of his career.  God is truly blessing us in many, many ways!  We celebrated the end of Lee's first day with dinner at Texas Land & Cattle...oh so good!  While Lee was busy at his first week of work, I explored ABQ and tried to make our extended stay hotel feel like home for the next month.  Lee worked long hours so I would go up to his office after 5:00 and help him.  Some nights we would stay until 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. but other nights were filled with work meetings, dinner with our new realtors here, lunch with one of Lee's Notre Dame friends, Lobo Club golf tournament, dinner with the Athletic Director and his wife, another day of Lobo Club golf tournament, dinner and date night in the Q, and another Sunday of church shopping.

The third week of June was a fun one.  I actually attempted to cook in the extended stay hotel two nights without burning the place down...haha!  I somehow got roped into planning, organizing, and running Lee's Lobo Club auction on August 26th (yes, one month before Baby Landon is due!) so I had auction meetings this week, mom came into town to visit while Lee went out of town for his annual conference in Orlando, mom and I looked at houses and setup my baby registry, and it was Lee's first father's day.  Such a neat week!

The last week of June was filled with mom leaving, auction meetings, dinner with candidates for an open position on Lee's staff, Lee's parents coming into town, Lee's fund drive "super celebration" event, dinner at Nick & Jimmy's in ABQ, looking at more houses, moving into our July rental house, taking a tram ride up Sandia Peak and eating at High Finance Restaurant and the top of the mountain, and celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary!

I hope everyone has as great of a June as we did but also hoping yours was less life changing than ours was!







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!!