I'm a very, VERY happy girl!!!!

Ibex Hills, originally uploaded by shobster.

So i made it back from Death Valley (an exemplar of the awesome photos that i managed to take while there is presented above) with relatively little additional tan to my complexion, and with a lot of cool experience and tons of new herp species learned. How awesome is that?! But that's not why i'm a very, very happy girl...
Ben just told me that he had a conversation with his mom about me. Of course i gasped. Do i wanna hear what was said in this conversation? Yes, according to him. So Ben was telling his mom about the car that showed up at the shop that he's planning on fixing to GIVE to me. After a brief discussion about the financial aspect of it, apparently she proceeded to ask about whether or not we ever talked about getting married (the answer is yes, btw). Naturally, she wondered about where we're gonna live after getting married, how much longer until he has to leave the country, etc. And the discussion ended with her saying that i'm basically the best girl for him...

Wow. Coming from a future mother-in-law. Just how amazing is that? I've always doubted if the parents liked me, esp. since i'm about to take their son away from them, but apparently i have nothing to worry about... Yay!!

Oh, and another, more materialistic source of happiness: I got my DSLR. It's pretty fuckin' awesome. Now i'm having a very strong urge to just go crazy and invest in all different lenses...