Bringing Up Bates "Sweet Tea and Sit Ups"...
- Gil, Kelly, Michael, Erin, and Carson stop by Vol Market #3, one of the family's favorite Knoxville restaurants. The Bates’ friendship with the owners started when Michael was a child and eventually led to her becoming a full-time nanny for the owners’ children.
- Like Erin, Michael has asked Vol Market #3 to cater her wedding food. “Her menu is going to be y’all’s chicken salad sandwiches, some sub sandwiches and chips and cake,” Kelly tells the owners.
- Everyone has a different estimate of the number of guests that will show up to the wedding. Michael predicts 500-600, Kelly thinks 600-800, and Gil guesses around 1,000.
- Up next is a meeting with the musicians, Emily and Natalie Raynes, who will play as the bridal party enters and leaves the sanctuary. During the ceremony, Brandon is arranging to have a few songs performed that he wrote for Michael.
- Back at home, Kelly tells her family that she needs to lose weight before the wedding. “I need some incentive, so if it’s like a challenge or competition, I’ll be more motivated.”
- The mom of 19 announces her plan: She and Gil will compete, with Tori as her trainer and Lawson and Gil’s trainer. But Kelly doesn’t want to judge the competition by the amount of weight lost, as she is embarrassed to step on the scale. So she suggests that the winner be the person who looks the best in the end. Gil says that Kelly will win.
- “I said, ‘Dad, you want a real coach who knows what it takes to get in shape and look good? I’ll be your man,’” shares Lawson.
- While Tori works out alongside her mom, Lawson’s approach is more hands-off.
- Tori and Kelly spend their time walking and doing toning exercises for abs and upper body. Meanwhile, Lawson drives to a deserted road, pushes Gil out the door, and tells him to run alongside the truck. Lawson sits at the wheel enjoying air conditioning and a cold bottle of sweet tea.
- The little kids pick two bowls of blackberries and beg Michael to make her famous blackberry cobbler. It’s a bittersweet moment, as everyone realizes that they won’t have Michael (or her cobbler) for much longer.
- “Michael, she never wants to be in the limelight,” says Gil. “She wants to be behind the scenes helping somebody.” “She’s always thinking of others more than herself,” adds Kelly.
- A seamstress friend brings over Michael’s finished wedding gown, and the Bates gals break down in tears as she models it. “I’m like the happiest girl ever,” she says. Her sisters and sister-in-law are thrilled for her, but they are all very sad to see her move to Chicago.
