Not an Artistic Bone in my Body

We're getting monkey girl (and by default, Bro Bro monkey) a playset for the backyard. Two of her favorite things to do are slide and swing. However, this thing is a behemoth compared to the swingset I had as a child. We feel our backyard is one of the main features of our house even though it's currently a blank slate and in obvious need of some TLC. So I thought it best to figure out placement of said playset monstrosity before it arrives.

I love design and seeing the beauty that comes through when someone with great talent puts things together, but I do not have an artistic bone in my body. I can appreciate other's efforts and would like to be able to achieve those results myself, but it's just not possible. It takes me days to pick out paint colors and even after I've chosen I constantly second guess myself. My husband hates it, but puts up with it (not that he has a choice).

So we called a couple of landscape designers to come take a look and give us a plan. Basically we need to know where to put the playset, what we can do along the back fence to stop our dogs from escaping the yard, design a modest deck so we can enjoy the yard while the kids are playing, and possibly get a couple of fruit trees. I always thought if I lived in a temperate climate I wanted my own fruit trees, but this area of Texas doesn't have great soil so we'll see. We saw some beautiful Cleveland Pear trees at Costco that we'd love in our yard. Anyways, designer #1 failed to show up this morning and didn't answer his phone all day. Designer #2 should be here tomorrow and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some great (and hopefully affordable) design ideas.