Eric, given your prime prerequsite is for happy snaps I'd suggest going through a review site e.g.
Steve's Digicams. I recently bought a Canon A710 for HRH. Liz. It's a lovely little camera, light, compact, has Image stabilisation (even on video), 6x optical zoom, adequate video capabilities (640x480) and excellent battery life from 2 removable AA size batteries. The only downside is poor red eye reduction (uninmportant if you post process) and lack of RAW image capture. I bought this model based on review recommendations over the 900ti as the difference in resolution would be hardly noticeable and the cost difference was substantial.