I use photoshop Elements 4
This is how I do it, and I tend to do things in a miss mash way...
open a new blank document, make sure its the size you want your finished picture.
open both the pictures. resize and crop as necassary
ctrl + A to select the first picture and then Ctrl + C to copy. click back on the blank document and ctrl + V to paste the picture on to it,
repeat the process for the other picture and you now have both images on the same page.
when I move the pictures around to position them I select the picture by clicking on the relevant layer and then Ctrl+T -that brings up the selected picture with a boarder, click in the center and drag to where you want it. you can also adjust the size using Ctrl and T but hold the shift button down as you drag to the correct size, so the picture stays in proportion.
Does any of that make sense?