Shrub 1 looks like Aronia/chokeberry to me. It is a small tree and planted too close to the house, but the plants is one that I like. Spring flower when not sheared, fruit for the birds, and as you noted, nice fall color.

Plant two might be a weigela. Have you seen flowers on it?

I haven't noticed a flower but it is kind of hit and miss as to when I am seeing them. There are two of them and they are in the shade of another birch tree in the back yard. They seem to be doing well there. I was thinking something like a serviceberry type for the first one. The houses are so close together in this neighborhood and all the plantings are right next to the house. I think everything on this side of the house is too close. Ugh. Thanks for your help! I will probably be posting over in landscape design to get their ideas next!

Yes I will get a closer look at those for you. It may take a few days until I am back at the house. Unless I can get my phone to zoom in with the existing pictures....

Is it possible that the second one is a Pittosporum?

I don't know, I will try to get closer pictures. It definitely has that sort of gray/green color. I have never seen this type of shrub before (or noticed one.)

Doesn't look like any Pittosporum I know. And the ones I'm familiar with do not have opposite leaves. My thoughts were Weigela or Euonymus. A better picture of the twigs and bark would help.

Zooming on the current pictures doesn't yield any more detail.

Pictures coming soon! I looked at some weigelia at the big box store and the few different ones they had seemed to have quite different leaves.

I don't know of a Pittosporum that can handle Nebraska's winter so it can't be that.

Oh yes, I didn't clock the state and zone.

I still think that the first one is Aronia.

The second one could be a Euonymus, but I don't see corky protrusions on the branches, so perhaps the native E. americanus, but the reddish tone to the leaves and opposite arrangement still makes me think Weigela. I have a difficult time with overpruned blobs.

Overpruned blobs.haha! ..We haven't touched that one yet but I am noticing is is narrower on the bottom which is a no-no right? So is it best to let it grow out or try to correct it by cutting the top to be narrower that the bottom? Thanks for taking another look at them NHBabs.

As far as pruning, if it is appropriately placed size-wise (or you decide to transplant) and something worth keeping, I would plan to do rejuvenation pruning on it so it can regrow in a more attractive form. The combination of dense twiggy branches on the outside, few leaves on the inside and lots of crossed and congested branches make this one a prime illustration of how not to prune, simply running an electric pruner over the outside, I imagine. I would choose to cut it down to the ground in late winter and let it regrow. The first year leave it untouched, and then start taking out crossing branches or irregular growth. Yes, the top should be pruned a bit narrower than the bottom - think sort of dome-shaped. Because it has well-developed roots, I find regrowth happens fairly quickly. If it is a flowering shrub, generally timing of pruning (generally shortly after it stops blooming for spring bloomers and late winter for summer and fall bloomers) is important so that you don't cut off the next year's flower buds. Many of my shrubs I don't prune because I've chosen them because I like their natural form and I've tried to place them where they won't overgrow their allotted space.

Or you can just remove it and replace with a shrub of your choosing.