Recap: "Windy City Newlyweds"

Bringing Up Bates "Windy City Newlyweds"

• Soon after Michaela and Brandon return from their honeymoon, Kelly, Carlin, Josie, Callie, Judson, and Jeb travel to Chicago for a visit.
• “When I first got to Michael’s apartment, it was a perfect little place, but it’s really, really small, which is fine; we started out small,” says Kelly. “But it was very crowded. They have a lot more stuff than they have places to put it, and it was too cute of a place to be cluttered.”
• The gals immediately start reorganizing the living room. 
• “What have you been doing since I’ve been gone?” says Brandon when he returns from work.
• “It took like an hour to decide if he liked it,” says Carlin.
• The next day, Michaela and her mom and siblings take the iconic architectural boat tour through downtown Chicago.
• “What a neat place to visit!” says Kelly. “Emphasis on Visit,” adds Gil, chuckling.
• After the tour, it’s time for Kelly and the kids to head home. “It’s always hard to say goodbye to any of the children, no matter what their age is,” says Kelly.
• Back in Tennessee, Erin and Chad discuss ideas for restoring an old hutch. Woodworking and restoring dilapidated furniture are currently just hobbies that Chad pursues in his free time, but he hopes to start a business in the future.
• “Restoring furniture, doing any project really, is a way to relax for him,” says Erin, as she and Carson watch Chad work. The finished product is incredible!
• The Bates family gathers to celebrate Zach’s graduation from the Blount County Regional Training Academy. The ceremony is delayed when Zach shows up late.
• One of the speakers at the graduation ceremony reminds the recruits that nothing is more important than their partner, both on the job and at home.
• It is an emotional day for Whitney and the rest of the Bates clan. “I was a proud wife because not many guys put their life on the line for people they don’t even know,” says Whitney.
• “We are all super proud of Zach,” says Nathan.
• The Bates family members, especially Whitney, admit that they worry about Zach as he works as a enforcement officer. “It makes me pray for him a whole lot more often,” says Kelly.
• “[Zach] has become the kind of man I think…everybody wants their son to grow up and be like,” says Gil.

Recap: Training Wheels and Trick Saddles"

Bringing Up Bates "Training Wheels and Trick Saddles"

• Gil and Kelly surprise Judson with a bike for his fifth birthday. Warden convinces his younger brother to try riding without training wheels, but Judson doesn't like that idea. “I want my training wheels back on,” says the birthday boy. 
• Erin and Chad, along with Carson and Tori, head to Beech Creek Studios in Nashville to record Erin’s Christmas CD with professional fiddle player Andy Leftwich. (The Paines had been saving money to record a Celtic CD before Carson’s birth, their plans changed when Carson came early.)
• “Music is probably one of the biggest things in my life,” says Erin. “I enjoy it because I feel like it encourages other people.”
• Kelly, Callie, and Lawson stop by to visit Erin the studio. “When I hear Erin play, I feel like it was a talent that the Lord gave her,” shares Kelly. “And I feel like she uses it to try to encourage other people, and that really is what drives her.”
• “Erin is an amazing girl,” says Chad. “Just the fact that after she’s had Carson she goes out and records a CD. I was so proud of Erin.”
• If you watched the season two finale of Bringing up Bates, you may remember that one of the trick riders from the Dixie Stampede promised to pay a visit to the house to teach the boys a few skills. Well that day has finally arrived.
• Trick riders Ashley Cutshaw and Shadow Montag arrive at the ranch--the Bates’ 135-acre piece of property where they keep their horses.
• After learning a few tricks, the boys take Ashley and Shadow on a ride through their town of Rocky Top, Tennessee. “The Bates are very bold,” says Shadow. “I mean, they literally run that town when they get out there full-force.”
• “I don’t think I’ve ever run through the middle of a town before on a horse, like with traffic,” adds Ashley.

Recap: "Fly Fishin' Zip Linin' Honeymoon"

Bringing Up Bates "Fly Fishin' Zip Linin' Honeymoon"...

• After their wedding, Michaela and Brandon honeymoon in Flathead County, Montana.
• The newlyweds’ first activity is fly fishing on Flathead Lake. The Bates kids are not surprised to hear that Michaela ended up catching more fish than Brandon. “[Brandon] is not the fisher type,” says Carlin. “He’s more like the city, office desk, suit and tie kind of guy.”
• “Fishing was fun, but with her being at the back of the boat and me all the way in the front, I was ready for some time where we could actually be together,” says Brandon.
• The second activity is zip lining. (Michaela wears a dress and leggings under her harness.) The view is breathtaking!
• Michaela and Brandon also take a ride on the Alpine Slide, an attraction that allows you to ride down a plastic track in a sled.
• Back in Tennessee, Gil takes Addee, Ellie, and Callie on a date to Rickard Ridge BBQ in Caryville. “Watching Michaela get married and looking around at all the other girls who are quickly growing up, we decided to take a little date night, just for fun,” says Gil.
• According to Kelly, the week after Michael’s wedding was very emotional for the little girls, who miss their sister older very much. “Just spending time with Dad has a way of just making everything seem like it’s all okay,” says the mom of 19.
• Gil, who is supposed to be on a diet, orders sweet tea, but the girls confiscate it. They give it back and tell him he can only have one glass, but he accepts a refill while his daughters are in the bathroom.
• After having worked in the sheriff’s department reserves for a few years, Zach begins an 11-week training course at the Police Academy. The first part of the program forced him to be away from home for an extended period of time, but now he is able to commute each day.
• “I ain’t going to lie, I called home crying a couple times,” says Zach. “Every night,” shares Whitney.
• “I was going to sound tougher than that, but yah, I called home crying every night,” admits Zach. “I missed my wife.”
• Whitney says that the support she has received from her parents and Zach’s family has been a lifeline. She and Josie, who used to chaperone Zach and Whitney before they were married, prepare a meal for Zach.

Recap: "Wedding Bliss and a First Kiss"

Bringing Up Bates "Wedding Bliss and a First Kiss"

• As Michael packs up her stuff at home, the girls beg her to reconsider moving out. “The Bates name is diminishing!” says Tori.
• “Y’all make it sound like it’s the end of the world,” says Michael. “It is!” replies Carlin.
• With only 30 hours to go before the wedding, dozens of family members and friends—including the Duggars—work together to decorate Wallace Memorial Baptist Church.
• Michael and the bridal party head to a local nail salon, while Brandon and his groomsmen stop by Prestige tuxedo to pick up their fancy attire. (Click here to see a list of the wedding party.)
• When the topic of the getaway car comes up, Brandon says he has taken precautions to prevent the decorating from getting out of hand, although Lawson, Nathan, and Trace Bates promise they won’t do anything too destructive. “No pepper down the air condition vents,” says Nathan. “No sardines in the floor board.”
• Michael and Brandon decided early on in their relationship to save their first kiss for the altar. “We haven’t practiced it, but we have talked about it,” says the groom.
• "Saving our first kiss was definitely not just an easy thing to do,” shares Michael. “And just looking forward to it tomorrow and knowing that it’s the first for both of us, it totally makes it worth all of the difficulty times that we have wanted to kiss.”
• The girls are running a bit behind schedule, but Kelly isn’t phased. “Michael may want to be on time for the rehearsal, but until tomorrow, she’s still a late Bates, along with the rest of us,” jokes the mom of 19.
• Michael admits she is stressed out, but her wedding coordinator—a family-friend who has coordinated all of the Bates kids’ weddings thus far—puts her at ease. 
• “I guess I have always had a little bit of an organized tendency to me, but learning how to organize Bates weddings has taken time and prayer,” says wedding coordinator Kim Nafziger.
• When everyone meets at the church for the rehearsal, Carlin breaks down crying, and Michael tries to console her. “Everything hit me all at once, that this is really it,” says Carlin. “The dynamic of our family is going to be different.”
• John and Alyssa arrive from Florida, but the Bates hardly recognize Alyssa, who had recently dyed her hair dark brown. (Her locks are naturally light brown.)
• On the morning of the wedding, Michael is eager to tie the knot. “This is the day of my wedding, and I have never been so excited before,” says the bride.
• With four hours to go, both the guys and gals are running behind. “I’m super excited, but I’m hoping everything comes together in time,” says the groom.
• As the seamstress laces the back of Michael’s dress and fits the veil on her head, Callie starts bawling. “This breaks my heart, Mom,” says Michael, as she scoops her little sister into her arms.
• Michael had made it clear that she does not want flower petals to fall during the kiss, so Brandon purchases two confetti cannons for the younger boys to set off.
• Pictures begin, and Gil tears up when he sees his daughter in her wedding gown. “Michaela has never seen herself as someone that wanted to be in the limelight,” says the proud father. “And she has never viewed herself as lovely as we see her. And yet today, on her wedding day, she’s the perfect picture of what we would all consider a lovely bride.”
• Michael and Brandon decide to wait until the ceremony to see each other in their wedding attire, but they snap a picture of the two of them on either side of a door, holding hands and praying together.
• Despite all the delays, the wedding starts at 2:00 sharp. Just before walking Michael down the aisle, Gil shares a special time of prayer with his daughter.
• The grandparents and Brandon's parents enter the auditorium to a live performance of Lawson’s new song “I Will Always.” (Click here for information on how to purchase.)
• The wedding party, starting with matron of honor Kelly Bates, walks down the aisle to Canon in G. “It was an honor that Michael asked me to do that,” says the mom of 19. “Although I enjoy the role of mom…there is nothing like knowing that they’re one of my best friends and I’m one of their best friends.”
• When everyone else is in place on stage, the doors open, the guests stand, and Michael and Gil enter. When asked “Who gives this woman in marriage to this man?” Gil responds: “Her Mother and I and her 18 siblings.”
• A professor from the Bible college that Brandon attended gives the sermon, and Gil officiates the rest.
• After reciting their traditional vows, exchanging wedding rings, lighting a unity candle, and praying with their parents, Michael and Brandon are pronounced husband and wife. “And after I kiss her on the cheek, you can kiss your bride,” says Gil, smiling with pride. 
• The elated newlyweds share their first kiss and then embrace in a romantic hug, as the confetti cannons are set off from the audience. 
• “Knowing that I was his only girlfriend and the first girl he had ever kissed and being able to give that back, it was priceless,” says Michael. “Definitely worth waiting for,” adds Brandon.
• The couple drives away in a tactfully decorated getaway car, which Brandon successfully kept away from his brothers-in-law.