Changes to our Front Yard

We are pretty much done with the re-landscaping of the front yard. The back is next in line... yikes!! That's going to be tricky!!

Here's us just weeks after we moved in. I'd forgotten what all we had done right away. We took out the tree against the garage, the one next to the right post, and the bushes in front of the bushes. Unfortunately, I didn't have one of what it looked like a couple of weeks ago. We had added in some white posts to line the walkway and planted a few little things.
This tree dropped a ridiculous amount of leaves that constantly covered the area. It wasn't super healthy and prevented us from doing a whole lot in the area because of the roots sitting pretty much right on top. Jared hacked off all of the limbs, then tied the trunk up to his truck and pulled it right out.
He was excited to see that most of the roots came out with the trunk.

No, this lovely fountain was not a result of taking out the tree. It's a sprinkler pipe that had been leaking for quite awhile. Jared dug a big hole and discovered that there were actually five leaks between the two pipes. Projects will always be bigger than intended...
Here's Thomas "helping." Actually, he was fishing in the water hole made by the leak. He thought it was pretty cool.
After:

We already had the vine stuff on the trellis and the bushes behind the fountain. We planted the bushes about a year ago in hopes of getting a nice shrub to hide the hose. They finally decided to start growing this year. We added the fountain last summer with some of the pavers. A friend suggested we extend the pavers to make a winding path and then add some lovely plants. We added two more bushes that should grow-up pretty high, some carpet roses I'm told I can't kill, two other free growing pink bushes, some spiky things and also feed the hydrangea that we planted last year. It's a hydrangea that came from my parents house in Fremont, I'm really hoping that one survives. I want to also add some hanging baskets to the green shepherds hook. Overall, I'm really excited with how it turned out!! Now, I just have to keep it all alive.

My mom made really cute planted pots with some flowers, leafy plants and a small evergreen that are in front of the posts. They were my birthday presents and I'm loving them. They are easy care!! My mom and friend also talked us into the bright pink azalea's for under the bushes under the big window. I'm loving the bright colors. Unfortunately, I just discovered that they get direct sun at the hottest part of the day.... azalea's don't like that. So, I think they will be finding a new home in the back yard... I'll have to find something new for that area.
It's hard to tell from this picture, but when we were done, Jared made sure to point out that everything was pink. He said I'm taking my vow for all things pink very seriously!

Now, the plan is to keep all this alive through the windy, hot summer. Hopefully it'll last because I certainly do not have a green thumb!! Now, onto the backyard. I'm sure you're all holding your breath to see what we do out there.