Recap: "Best Bates Moments"

On this New Year’s Eve special, the Bates review the best moments from the first two seasons of their show.

• On Valentine’s Day, Zach surprises his wife by arranging to have “Three Nice Guys,” an acapella quartet, stop by to perform two love songs. 
• Erin and Chad share their pregnancy news with Gil and Kelly during a double date. 
• While Mom and Dad are away, Erin and Chad and the kids remodel the master suite. 
• Kelly and the children throw a surprise 50^th birthday party for Gil, to which they invite friends he hasn't seen in many years. The kids give speeches and perform skits that bring their dad to tears. 
• While helping Zach finish Bradley’s nursery, Gil reminds his oldest son that “Bradley and Whitney are more important than anything else you’re trying to do.”
• To celebrate Carlin's entry into womanhood, Gil and Kelly take their fifth oldest daughter out for a dinner date. Carlin is overjoyed when her parents give her a beautiful purity ring. 
• The older boys attempt to take over their younger brothers' fort using air-soft guns, but they don’t end up succeeding.
• The Bates make memories on a family camping trip.
• Gil and the kids convince Kelly to ride the Wild Eagle roller coaster at Dollywood. “That by far is the scariest thing I’ve ever been on,” says the mom of 19, who screams the entire time.
• Lawson turns up the drama after his wisdom teeth extraction, and the family enjoys teasing him.
• Erin is touched when her friend Kelsey not only throws her a baby shower but also organizes a balloon release in memory of the babies that Erin and Chad miscarried before becoming pregnant with Carson.
• Kelly brings the family to tears when she shares how thankful she and Gil are for their children. “Many times we look back, and we feel like failures as parents…and y’all are the greatest kids in the world,” she says. “Y’all encourage us so much.”
• Kelly and the girls take Whitney on a walk to jump-start labor. When Whitney is admitted into the hospital to give birth to Bradley, so invites her mother, mother-in-law, and oldest sisters-in-law to join her during labor. 
• After a difficult pregnancy, Erin endures an especially painful labor, but the new mom says Carson is more than worth it.
• Brandon organizes a complex scavenger hunt through Washington D.C. for Michael, which culminates with his proposal. 

Tune in to UP on Thursday, January 7th, for the season three premiere of Bringing Up Bates. (Click here for episode summaries.) We wish you a blessed New Year!

Recap: "The Quest for the Dress"

Bringing Up Bates, "The Quest for the Dress"...

• Kelly and Michaela meet with Kim, Kelly’s older sister, to discuss flowers for the wedding. Kim has a flower shop in Mebane, North Carolina, called Gallery Florist. She has done flowers for each of the Bates kids’ weddings, as well as for Kelly’s wedding.
• Michaela wants cherry blossoms, but since they aren't in season in August, she settles for silk flowers.
• After Kelly married Gil, her mom adopted two daughters. One of those girls, Beth, is getting married the month before Michaela, so Kelly and Michaela meet up with the rest of the family for Beth’s wedding shower. Michaela and Beth are only a year apart in age and are close friends.
• For one of the shower games, guests divide up into teams and create toilet paper wedding dresses. Afterwards, Gil the penny pincher gathers the leftover toilet paper to take home. “Man, look at all this savings!” exclaims Gil. “This is the soft kind.”
• Later, Erin and Chad have a photographer take newborn pictures of Carson. “I have never known why people want to go take pictures of itty bitty babies,” says Nathan. “And then the next thing is, why they always want to take their clothes off and put them in a little bucket or something."
• Michaela, accompanied by her mom, sisters, and sister-in-law, heads to White Lace & Promises in Knoxville, Tennessee, in search of the perfect wedding dress. The bride-to-be wants a simple gown that makes her look skinny and has a train and sleeves.
• As expected, Michaela is hit with an onslaught of opinions each time she tries on a dress. “I’m going to tell you something about the Bates,” says Josie. “They are not scared to say what they think. They just blurt it out. Whitney doesn’t do that, but we do that.” 
• “It is good to be honest,” agrees Whitney. “But you have to do it in a loving kind of way.”
• Tori and Carlin turn out to be the biggest critics.
• After trying on a bunch of wedding dresses, Michaela admits to feeling discouraged. “I was thinking, ‘Maybe we should just elope or have a tiny wedding that nobody is going to see,'” she shares. 
• But before long, Michaela finds exactly what she has been looking for. The gown will need extensive alterations to remove some of the poof and add capped sleeves, but everyone agrees that it is very “Michaela.”
• The only catch is that it will cost nearly $2,000, which is significantly more than Michaela had allotted for in her wedding budget. She resolves to pray about it and make the final decision in a few days. 

Recap: "Boating with the Bates"

Bringing Up Bates, "Boating with the Bates"

• Now that Erin and Chad are home from the hospital with Carson, Chad’s mom, Tammy, is staying with them for a short while to help out.
• Carson arrived one month early, weighing 6 pounds at birth, but miraculously, he was healthy and did not have to be admitted into the NICU.
• Tori goes shopping at Burlington Coat Factory using a gift card that Mama Jane, Gil’s mom, sent as a reward for earning straight A’s in her first semester of college.
• When Tori returns home, the entire family gathers around to admire her new clothes. “Mom, she got a tractor load full of clothes!” exclaims Carlin.
• “Is this, like, my money?” Gil asks his daughter. When Tori assures him that she used the gift card from “Janey,” Gil smiles and says: “I love shopping with Janey!”
• The family begs Tori to model her clothes. “Her outfits were awesome,” says Carlin. “So all you guys out there, don’t mess with my sister.” Tori covers her eyes in embarrassment. “Carlin, stop,” she says, laughing. “She don’t want me to chase them off,” replies Carlin.
• Gil calls a family meeting to discuss plans for the week. Nathan announces that he is going to the lake for a day, and Kelly suggests bringing the entire family. Kelly grew up on a lake. Gil grew up close to one, and he also proposed to Kelly on a lake. Needless to say, the Bates family loves lakes.
• Everyone pitches in to gather supplies, including swimsuits, life jackets, a jet ski, and a lot of towels. (Gil suggests sharing towels, but the girls refuse.)
• The next day, as the family is about to leave for the lake, Michael’s bridesmaid and flower girl dresses arrive. Naturally, some of her sisters have to try them on immediately.
• The Bates arrive at the lake around lunchtime. They are thrilled to have Zach, Whitney, Bradey, Erin, Chad, and Carson join them.
• The Bates ladies swim in stretchy skirts and leggings, but according to Whitney, it really isn’t a big deal. She says you hardly notice it.
• Partway through the day, the skies open up and pour down rain. A strong bolt of lightening makes the girls scream.
• After the storm passes, Gil shows off his extreme waterskiing skills. “Dad is the coolest guy on the planet,” says Carlin. “My dad is an outstanding skier,” boasts Nathan.
• “My children are the funnest people to play with in the world,” says Gil. “They make me feel special, even thought I am just an average person. I hope I can encourage them as much as they have encouraged me.”
• Gil even dives off the top dock. “The problem with me trying to keep up with those kids; I hurt so much more after it’s over,” says the father of 19.

Recap: "High Risk, High Hopes"

Tonight on Bringing Up Bates, "High Risk, High Hopes"...

• Erin and Chad visit Dr. Vic to see how Erin is progressing in her high-risk pregnancy.
• Dr. Vic explains that with Erin's condition, there is a risk of having a stillbirth. 
• "This is one of those situations where there is nothing you can do but pray," says Gil.
• "You just have to pray that God knows best and that we're doing everything we can to have a healthy baby," says Erin.
• Back at the Bates house, the younger kids build an underground fort. Gil and Kelly don't have broadcast TV, so their kids spend a lot of time outside.
• Then, Lawson, Nathan, and Trace take Jackson, Warden, and Isaiah to a driving range for a golfing lesson, which, according to Zach, is just "the blind leading the blind."
• When they return home, the older boys load their airsoft guns and try to take the younger boys' fort. The Bates have one rule for airsoft wars: Everyone must wear eye protection.
• The rest of the family watches from the window.
• Erin prepares dinner for Zach, Whitney, and Bradley. According to Tori, "Erin, for the longest time, was the worst cook ever."
• "When Erin cooked at the house, we would say, 'When the fire alarm goes off, dinner is ready,'" teases Zach. Since marrying Chad and having a reason to develop her skills, Erin is now a great chef.
• "Zach doesn't say it much, and he doesn't show it, but he has a hard time watching his sisters grow up and get married and have babies," says Whitney. "It makes him sad."