Hey Log,
I am sort of in the same boat. I play alone mostly, but sometimes jam with others and want to be able to record to pc.
From what I have seen, the best way to go (keep in mind I am a newbie also) is to use an external mixer, Behringer's are pretty affordable, or Mackie seems to have a good rep but be more expensive...
Anyway, hook your stuff up to the mixer as usual, then run the mixer into the fangled new expensive sound card your going to be buying, and use some recording software to do your mixdowns.
You should check out similar questions in this thread:
http://www.studioathome.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=763&highlight=