'Working Up An Appetite' Recap

Bringing Up Bates "Working Up An Appetite"

• On a previous episode, the Bates men poured concrete for their basketball court, but they haven’t yet put up the basketball goal. Lawson hollers out instructions as everyone attempts to put the goal together.The project takes them two days to complete.
• “The good thing is about Lawson’s leadership,” Zach states. “He never really messes that much up because even though he’s telling everybody all the wrong things to do, nobody pays him any attention.”
• On another day, Gil and Kelly take Carlin and Josie to have their wisdom teeth extracted. Carlin’s reaction to the anesthesia is very entertaining. “[Carlin] was like Miss Invincible,” says Gil.
• “My head was so mis-combobulated up there,” says Carlin. “I couldn’t think straight.” Carlin is very much “out of it” and won’t stop talking, so Gil firmly tells her to settle down. She breaks down crying.
• Josie, on the other hand, is very tired and in a lot of pain. “Josie, if you said anything to her, she would just bust out crying, and Carlin, if you didn’t want to have a party with her, she would bust out crying,” says Katie. “But they both did amazing.”
• At the end of the episode, Kelly, Lawson, Trace, Tori, and Carlin head over to Cracker Barrel to pick up dinner for the entire family. The Paines and little Bates family also come over. “Enjoy this roast while you can because mine don’t taste this good,” Kelly jokingly tells the family.
• Gil and Kelly are headed to Australia and have plans to divide up the little kids among the older married ones while they are gone.
• “I think it’s really a special time any time the family gets together and just sits at the table and has dinner together,” says Erin.

'Mass-a-somethin'" Recap

Bringing Up Bates "Mass-a-something'"

• At a condo at Massanutten Resort in Virginia, the Bates are rushing to get ready for their ski lessons. Gil is the only family member who has been skiing, so the rest of the clan is in for an adventure.
• Kelly insists that the little kids wear multiple layers under their snowsuits. “You’re going to be hot as a firecracker on July the 4^th,” Gil tells Jeb.
• Just before everyone heads out the door, Kelly receives a text from Michael informing her that a mother and her daughter had fallen off a chairlift and died the week before. The mom of 19 is very nervous for her children’s safety.
• Renting skis and snowboards takes close to an hour. Most of the family takes ski lessons, but the older boys elect to try snowboarding.
• Tori’s boyfriend, Bobby Smith, joins the family on the slopes, as does Carlin’s “special friend,” Evan. Carlin met Evan and his family about five years ago, but it has only been a few months since the pair really started talking. (They reconnected at a ladies banquet, where Evan was serving.)  “Yes we like each other,” says Carlin. “We’re trying to get to know each other, but there’s no official thing right now.”
• Trace’s friend, Campbell Roberts, also comes along. At the end of the trip, she insists that Trace did great.
• When it comes time for everyone to ride the chairlift, Kelly is a nervous Nelly. They all make it out alive, although Kelly has the attendant at the top stop the lift so she can get off slowly.
• Nathan arrives that evening. He has been at flight school in Mississippi, taking tests to earn his commercial pilot’s license.
• The next morning, the family goes tubing, another great adventure. “I hurt my heinie” says Judson.
• That afternoon, Kelly teaches Nathan everything she learned in ski school. “If you think you’re going to hit somebody, fall,” she tells her son. “I got a lot of practice doing that yesterday.”
• Nathan picks it up quickly. “She’s actually an incredible teacher,” he says. “A mother that has spent her entire life teaching children things. I would rather have nobody else give me a lesson than my mom.”
• Everyone is sad when it comes time to head home.  “I think skiing is a great family experience,” says Erin.
• “I’m really impressed,” says Gil. “My wife was the funnest and the funniest and the most heroic. She didn’t give up. She didn’t quit. She even taught lessons.”
• “I think we’re going back,” says Gil. “Massanutten is going to get a mass-a-Bates.”

'Bike Racks, Barbers & Big Duets' Recap

Bringing Up Bates "Bike Racks, Barbers & Big Duets!"

• Lawson and Nathan head to Mount Airy, North Carolina, to prepare for Lawson’s show. Mount Airy is Andy Griffith’s hometown and considered to be the inspiration for the Mayberry of The Andy Griffith Show.
• Lawson is invited to be a guest on a local radio program. “Live anything is really something I’ve really been trying to adjust to and get better at,” he admits. “When it’s life…you can’t take it back. You can’t hit the edit button.”
• Nathan and Lawson take a tour of the town in an old squad car. They also visit a replica of Andy Griffith’s office.
• Back at home, Gil and the other boys set out to turn a big log into a bike rack. Bikes are constantly left out in the Bates’ yard, and they are often run over.
• Everyone is extremely impressed by the finished product, and they are equally as impressed that the Bates started and finished a project in the same day.
• “That was the most genius thing I have ever seen,” says Tori.
• When the rest of the family makes it to Mount Airy, it’s crunch time. Emily Ann Roberts arrives, and the sound check begins. Fans begin lining up outside the historic Earle Theatre.
• “I think Lawson’s stage presence has just improved so much,” says Nathan. “It’s remarkable how much better Lawson has become.
• Lawson is pleased with the way the evening turns out. “Overall, I think the concert was a blast,” he says.

'Loads of Laundry and Lots of Lessons' Recap

Bringing Up Bates "Loads of Laundry and Lots of Lessons"

• The Bates are staying at a local hotel while their house is aired out. They have two, two-bedroom suites. “I think the initial thought of staying at a hotel was, ‘This is going to be fun,’” says Gil. “But about 48 hours into it, this is not the vacation we were thinking about.”
• Managing laundry and meals while living in a hotel proves to be a difficult task for the super-sized Bates family, but they are grateful that the damage to their house was minor and that no lives were lost.
• “In the long run, life could have been a whole lot harder,” says Gil. “You know, like the fires in Gatlinburg. Our little problems were really nothing compared to what other people were facing.”
• As they continue to teach Judson and Jeb about the dangers of fire, Gil and Kelly, along with Lawson, take the boys up to Gatlinburg to see the shell of a home that was destroyed in the Gatlinburg forest fire, which happened at the same time as the Bates’ house fire. “I want that to be a picture that you guys remember every time you’re tempted to disobey,” Kelly tells her two youngest sons as they stand there looking at the house.
• The Gatlinburg fire, believed to be started by two juveniles, killed 14 people, injured approximately 150 individuals, and destroyed more than 1,700 structures.
• Gil, Kelly, Lawson, Judson, and Jeb bring gifts to a family that lost everything in the Gatlinburg fire. “We went there to teach our children a lesson, thinking we’re going to be a blessing," shares Gil. “...I wasn’t just Jud and Jeb that learned a lesson. I think more than them, me and Kelly learned a lesson. And that family was a great testimony of going through difficult times, staying close as a family, and having the right perspective.”
• Later, Gil and the boys head over to the newly purchased church building to make plans for construction. “It’s really little, and it needs a lot of work,” says Trace, “But it’s just so awesome, now we’ve actually got our own church building.”
• Back at their house, the Bates accept a delivery of their emergency clothes that had been professionally cleaned. They walk through the second floor, sniffing everything, to make sure the smoke odor has left. The plan is to redo the sheetrock, floor, and paint in the laundry room.
• To get their mind off the fire, Gil and Kelly take the family to the ARK Encounter in Kentucky. For those who haven’t heard about the ARK Encounter, it’s a full-size replica of Noah’s Ark that opened in 2016. Inside the structure is a museum.
• With a bunch of little kids in tow, Gil doesn’t have time to read all the displays, so he takes pictures of just about every single one of them so he can look back at them later.
• Between the fire, the new church building, and the tree service, the Bates have a lot on their plate. “I don’t know how [my parents] do it,” says Lawson. “They’re like super people.”

'Fire Trucks and Diaper Dumps' Recap

Bringing Up Bates "Fire Trucks and Diaper Dumps"

• Gil and Kelly plan a “diaper pounding,” a small baby shower where guests bring diapers rather than traditional baby gifts, for Alyssa. “Because Alyssa lives so far away, I feel like I don’t get to be involved and do as much for her as I do the other married couples, so I really wanted to give her a shower or do something just to show her how excited we were,” says Kelly.
• After Thanksgiving, some of the younger kids visit the married couples. Back home, the Bates’ laundry room catches on fire. Lawson and Trace panic when Judson is nowhere to be found, but they end up finding him and are able to get everyone out of the house.
• Zach, a cop, is on patrol when the fire breaks out and is called to the scene. Gil and some of the boys are on a tree job when they hear what has happened, so they rush home. “I just didn’t know what to expect when we came down the driveway,” says Gil.
• “It’s unbelievable how fast fire can spread, especially in a room with tons of fuel, which would be clothes,” says Zach. “It could have ended much differently, and it’s a miracle from God that my family didn’t lose much more.”
• After the firefighters put the flames out, Gil goes into the laundry room to assess the damage. The fire has burned holes in the walls and blackened almost every surface According to the firefighters, had the door of the laundry room not been closed, the fire could have easily burned the entire house down.
• Judson and Jeb come clean: They accidentally started the fire while secretly playing with a lighter in the laundry room. “We’ve talked about ‘don’t play with fire,’” says Gil. “You think…everybody’s got it, but I guess they really didn’t get the seriousness of it.” The father of 19 has a serious talk with his two youngest children about the dangers of fire and plans to have more conversations with them in the coming days.
• The next day, a crew comes by to pick up all the clothing items that need to be cleaned. “About the 70^th bag, and I realized we have too many clothes,” says Gil.
• Meanwhile, Kelly, Katie, and Emily Raynes (a family-friend who played at Michael’s wedding) are in Chicago visiting Michael and Brandon. Kelly is thrilled to be visiting her daughter, but she is anxious to return home to find out more about the fire.
• After spending a short time in Chicago, Kelly, Katie, and Michael head down to Florida for Alyssa’s diaper pounding. Rather than a women-only shower, this event is a fellowship for both guys and gals at a local park. Brandon is able to join them.
• “Me and Michael are really close, and it’s been really hard, telling her that I’m pregnant and talking about my pregnancy…and her wanting so bad to have a big family and have a child," shares Alyssa. “It’s a really delicate topic, and it’s just hard to watch because she would be such an amazing mother.”
• “There’s a little bit of sadness in all of our hearts because we all pictured that by this time that Michael would get to be holding a baby, and I know that’s her heart’s desire,” adds Kelly.
• Michael is “absolutely thrilled” for Alyssa, but she admits that she still feels a longing to have a child of her own. “Every time I hear of a pregnancy announcement, it is hard, but it doesn’t at all take away from the excitement of hearing about new life and a new baby.”
• Although taxing, Kelly says that the events of the week have brought the family closer together.