Its nice to have a paved patio along at least part of the back of the house. This would be a good place for a grill and pergola. The firepit can be further out in the yard.

Stone mulch, gravel or decomposed granite make great ground covers and there are a lot of low water use plants you could use in your area. California has some great natives but many australian and mediterranean plants would also work.

Heres our firepit but you could do a paved area if you prefer.

Here are a few ideas:

Thanks Dig Doug’s Designs. Love this!

If you’d like to make any more renderings, feel free! That’s incredibly helpful.

You're off to a good start with deciding some "areas" you'd like in the yard and thinking about how you'll use them. I would take some graph paper and draw out some possible landscape designs to consider. Consider putting some kind of patio near the back of the house for grilling and eating. Maybe that's where you'd like the pergola. Choose an area for a firepit that is a safe distance from the house and the fence. Once you have a plan in place, you can begin working towards it. Install hardscape and patios and then get planting.