Hi @lmcde3 and others,
I did some testing in the last few days (see The Internet of Thinger ESP8266 + UNO with https://github.com/bportaluri/WiFiEsp) and I must say that your idea to use ESP as a controller and Arduino as an sensor interface sounds to me better than the reverse setup (my idea 
).
You have to connect the devices, it should be quite simple using serial communication. Of source you have to develop some kind of protocol between the both.
Jiri