We brought in the big guns...

...a professional landscape architect to draw up a plan for our yard.

We are hoping to do a lot of the work ourselves but will need to have a landscaper do the retaining wall and patio etc. We will also scale back on the plants since I am a "less is more" type of decorator. The top of the drawing shows the patio on the east side of the house which will give it great shade. The west side will have concrete until after the garage...afterall you gotta have a place of tricycles, sidewalk chalk, hoops, and the trash can. The back will have a 2-3' retaining wall to level the yard and the ditch it forms will hold a line of trees that will block the road. The far corner is a little garden for raspberries, tomatoes, and squash.

It'll be a long time before this is all complete since we can't even start until the spring. Hopefully if we can get the retaining wall and grass done quickly the rest can get done when we have the time to do it ourselves.