Thanks for the suggestions. We put a hose out for the past 2 weeks walking where a path had already been worn in the grass. It seems to work fine, so we've decided on that gentle curved path. I didn't take a photo while the hose was out, so can't show it. The exposed aggregate concrete path will start on the right from behind where a car will be parked in the driveway & curve left to then go straight to the front door. Since the front porch has some rotten beams, we will repair or replace it with a larger concrete landing with 2 steps down to the path Once we've done some landscaping like shrubs, building curved garden beds, & leveling the grass areas we'll be able to lay it out. It's hard for me to picture it now, but I know it will come together.

Not really quite the same situation as your front porch and entry walk, but an example of sawcutting and relaying of an existing concrete walk here in California where I wanted to make the walk more interesting without spending a whole lot of money on new materials, when the existing walk was still in perfectly good condition. In this situation, it was more about creating interest in a very tight space, while still providing easy access to the sideyard gate. Check out some of the other paving solutions in this same garden in the rest of the set where I used precast concrete step pads(also already on-site) in combination with an existing concrete patio, and also saw cut some edges off the existing patio to change the shape and added some concrete seat walls and a wood bench as built-ins to save room and not clutter up the very small garden with a whole lot of furniture. I agree that gravel would probably be a poor choice with young kids and high traffic. Stone inlay between the concrete or brick pavers can also be a useful device both pragmatic and visual; I was thinking more along the lines of 2 to 4 inch river stone set on edge and wedged tightly into the gaps, so that they wouldn't be loose. I've used this technique with a dry sand and mortar bed or wet mortar bed. In your part of the country perhaps a black mexican pebble wouldn't look right, but as your house is a ranch style and not traditional, maybe you'd be okay with that. I've set stone in gaps both ways, and it can stand up to heavy traffic if done correctly. Here is a link that might be useful: Sawcut concrete walk with gaps

Ordinarily I would find myself in agreement with almost anything Gardengal would recommend, but not in this case. Setting concrete stones at or slightly below the level of existing grass is going to result in constant dirt washing onto the soil with a sandy soil mix, and in a high desert with the constant need for irrigation for a lawn, it will also tend to wash the dirt onto pavers. I personally wouldn't want all that lawn in a climate where it will increase your water bills so tremendously, but recommended mowing heights for a Tall Fescue/Blue Grass lawn mix will be 3 inches, so having it slightly raised about 1/2 to 3/4 inches isn't going to create problems for the lawn mower. Don't forget that when rain does tend to come, as infrequent as it is, it can be the season total all at once, again likely to wash soil onto surfaces that are set too low. As to a pathway set right up against the house, it is a more common design detail in contemporary as well as spanish influenced designs, and can be a classic Spanish/Californian design detail. A desert garden doesn't lend itself to the PNW garden style with tons of foundation plantings; more widely spaced plantings and more sculptural plants placed in a more architectural or natural to the desert way seems more sympathetic to the surroundings to me. I can understand the desire to have a large green lawn in the high desert, especially if you are used to British Columbia conditions, but it is not practical in the long run, and lawn substitutes make more sense. I guess you will have to suffer through ever increasing water bills and constant battles to keep the lawn alive and looking good to understand the potential wisdom of working with your climate instead of against it. A Kentucky Blue Grass lawn doesn't even make much sense here in the San Francisco Bay Area, where they tend to want to go dormant in the summer heat and take much more water and care to keep looking decent than other lawn grasses. I'd suggest that you look into real water miser grasses such as Buffalo Grass for the high desert. Admittedly it will go winter dormant in your area, but it fills in quite quickly with desert heat, and needs hardly any water in comparison to cool season turf grasses such as Tall Fescue or KBG. If your area has a good low water demonstration garden to visit, I'd recommend a visit. Most California Water Districts do have such a display garden to show the merits of plantings that take less water and care. There is a very nice Display garden in Las Vegas, which isn't exactly close, but is similar in climate to your conditions, and illustrates the wealth of plants that actually make sense in your climate.

Anyone with any doubts about Superior Walls should use something else. I watched the setting of those for two houses before making my decision. The bolts installed when setting the panels hold the walls until the house floor structure is PROPERLY secured to the top of the walls. The basement floor slab keeps the walls from moving in at the bottom and if the builder chooses, the walls are secured to the slab to prevent outward movement for daylight basements. The backfill prevents outward movement at the bottom. Thinking things through from a technical perspective is helpful. Going on now with 12 years with my Superior Walls and am perfectly pleased. Concrete block probably comprises the majority of basement foundation construction and it is the poorest choice in my opinion. But that is not to say that it is a bad choice-- definitely not the best.