So we recently picked up a Canon Digital Rebel XT for a really good price. We're really enjoying it and having a fun time being able to take great pictures. The best part is the responsiveness, compared to our point and shoot HP camera.
Some of our pictures should be up on Flickr soon.
Here is a link to a good set of tutorials from Canon based on the Rebel XT, but the concepts apply to just about any SLR camera. Enjoy.