My First Wedding & The Chef

This past weekend, I performed my very first wedding as a pastor for Mr. & Mrs. Jeremy Breedlove (that last name is awesome).   Anyhow, after the wedding we went down to Winthrop University for the reception.  Winthrop has a beautiful campus and a great hall for receptions.  I was really impressed by the facilities, but I was most impressed by the chef for the reception.  The chef was none other than the runner-up for the hit show Hell’s Kitchen…Chef Petrozza. 
Some of you may not care, but as an avid viewer of this awesome show…I was happy as all get out to eat some of this man’s food and I pigged out.  I had some of the best Mac & Cheese and Chicken Alfredo ever tasted on this planet.  Here’s a picture of me with the Chef.  As you can see, he was as equally excited to meet Pastor Chris Pate (that’s right…I am famous too).   Needless to say, I think I gained 10 lbs that night.

Push Ups at Red Lobster

So the Pate family gathered at Red Lobster last night to celebrate my birthday…and my dad’s too.  We had a great time talking about the new baby and watching my brother’s children.  My brother mentioned this new workout plan that trains you to do 100 push ups consecutively.  I heard about such a plan from this cool guy last week and was thinking about giving it a try.  I gave myself a little test the other day and felt miserable after only getting in 12 amazing push ups before I cried like a little girl.  However, it turns out that you don’t have to be good at something to feel GREAT about it because by the end of last night, my brother and I had a push up competition in the middle of Red Lobster.  I matched my initial test of 12 push ups and my brother could only do a measly 7 girlie push ups (the were girlie push ups because his badonka donk was stuck in the air) .  Maybe next time bro…but I wouldn’t count on it.

Independence Day

No pics, but Mandy and I took Matt & Erica (our youth pastor and his wife) down to the In-Laws for the 4th.  We had a great time even though it rained causing us to stay home.  However; we did see fireworks that were being shot off from their neighbor’s house over the small pond.  These fireworks were not small…they were huge and I am sure the display costs a lot of money.  We were even lucky enough to have one of them fire over the pond towards us and explode on the water about 20 yards away.  I took off after that one.  That was one firework to close.  Overall, it was a pretty good day.

The Belly Pics

Our sister-in-law, Janelle, took some pictures for us this week of Mandy’s belly. She did a great job as you will soon see.  Here are a few of them. You can also check out our flickr account on the right.

Music by Nat King Cole – Let There Be Love

Cutting Trees Down

This past Saturday, Myself and a few guys from Mandy’s family went down to help their Grandparents by cutting down some trees and hauling them out.  It was actually a lot of fun to figure out ways to cut trees down without taking out part of the house.  We actually snapped a rope tied on to the back of a truck.  I really wanted to cut down a tree with an axe, but after a few swings into it…lets just say “the tree won.”  At least, I didn’t hit myself with it or break any bones.  Anyhow, 5 hours and 6 trees and some shrubs were cut down and taken away.  All for free.  It’s nice when you get a chance to let people know that you love them and appreciate them.

I Admit It…I Live In Hickville

I have tried my hardest not to admit to myself that I really do live in Hickville, but yesterday I awoke from that dream.  I finally went and had our cars inspected…yeah,yeah…I know I have been here a year now and I am just getting it done (for you out-of-staters….I should have it done within the first 30 days I moved here).  So on to the story…I pulled up to this service station, which believe it or not is a full-service station.  I pulled my car into the garage and a guy playing the banjo asked me for my registration.  I got out of the car and noticed a Red Fox that had been stuffed sitting on the shelf in the garage (I think it was a pet of theirs).  I got a closer look and noticed that they also had a stuffed turtle with the Red Fox on the shelf (who knew you could stuff Turtles?).  And what topped it off for me, was that I got the pleasure of listening to Bluegrass music for the entire stay (which I think I am starting to like).  Anyhow…as they say in AA Meetings, My name is Chris and I live in Hickville.

DC Trip ‘08

We went to DC last week and I am now just getting time to tell you about it. It was a great trip. Mandy and I, along with the the StateofPate crew, went to DC for 4 days. We went to a lost of places to numerous to tell you about in a blog post, but we did take some pictures. Here are a few put to a random music selection, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Michael McDonald. Enjoy!

Mission “Please the Pregnant Wife”…Complete

And no one even got hurt…jk!  The nursery is complete…finally after about 12 hours of work all together.  Thanks to the Padgetts and the Warners for their help.

 

Cades Cove 2008

Two weeks ago, the Padgetts, The Story’s, and the Pates made a journey into Pigeon Forge, TN to visit Cades Cove and Dollywood.  Here’s our journey through Cade’s Cove.  For full viewing pleasure, turn up the volume.  Trust me, the music will almost put you right there.  I posted a few pictures in my Flickr account too (which you can check out on the right). Enjoy.

 

More Easter 08

So this is like extremely late, but my flickr account has been well maxed out for several weeks now. I decided to go another route to post these pics. Enjoy!