cereality

So per their latest video these idiots are trying to get pregnant again - with Carlin getting all teary and crying that she wasn't pregnant this month. So give it until next month - August pregnancy, baby next April-May. And Evan isn't even mincing words about he'll be happy with whatever the Lord gives them, he's all about a boy and about how he wants a boy while he's in the prime of his life to be able to play basketball with his son etc. So many more babies in the future for these two. If the next one is a girl, they def will keep going for a boy. If the next one is a boy, well then that boy needs a brother + Layla needs a sister.

IDK if the cameras are following the Bates right now. We’ve seen some trips to the farm but not all so I don’t think G&Ks parents are on enough to be getting any kind of cut. But it could be something to show on a future episode - though you can still do that if you just take G&K and say the 5 younger kids. We only know about this trip bc of social media not UPTv. Gil’s dad’s birthday is July 4 so it’s a tradition to gather at the farm to celebrate. While I’m sure Mama Jane loves her son and grandkids and doesn’t want to say don’t come - she has said clear as day that it’s overwhelming to her when the entire family comes. This was on an episode several years ago. She hasn’t gotten younger since then and the family has only grown. Yet they don’t care - they just want their free summer long weekend running carefree on the farm like they did when they were 10. Except when Law was 10, Mama Jane was prob like 58 and more capable of making meals and cleaning up after 20+ houseguests. This is on G&K to tell their kids - we’re going to visit them in groups of 5-7 max and we will not act like wild animals while we’re there. I mean there was footage from a prior visit where Katie, Josie, Carlin - as grown adults - piled into Jane’s hammock even after she said not to bc it’d break - broke it and then laughed about how Mama Jane is so uptight. Then there was Carlin standing on her dining or picnic table where food was about to be served momentarily and when Mama Jane said something she laughed at her and said I just put on new shoes - which she hadn’t as she was shown walking all over the farm in the shoes. G&K did a fine job with the respect for elders thing.

OMG I saw a pic from Mama Jane's kitchen this afternoon. It looked like a tornado hit and she did NOT look happy - much like the morning video with the orange cinnamon rolls. Looks like it's 20 ppl visiting now - G&K + all the kids that live at home + plus all the current fiances/girlfriends + Evan/Carlin/Layla. And it'll soon be 22 bc Alyssa said in a video earlier that she and Maci are going but leaving the other 3 girls with John. So yeah while this is a "smaller" visit than it used to be, 22 people in the house certainly isn't like having 2 houseguests. If Mama Jane gets overwhelmed - which she clearly SAYS - why do these idiots all go as a group? Can't G&K just go visit his parents? Or if they want the younger kids to know their grandparents - just take G&K, Jed, Jeb, Addie, Ellie, and Callie!? And tell everyone else look you need to go just with your family or maybe as 2 couples max bc I don't want Grandma Jane to have more than 5 houseguests!? I know they'll say oh they want everyone there, look the boys did construction on a barn for Papa Bill etc. but certainly if Papa Bill needs that, Trace/Jackson/Warden/Isiah aren't babies and could make a separate trip out there to do work on the farm!? And while this is a big trip, the only LITTLE kids on the trip now are Jeb, Jud who are not babies + Layla. Why does Mama Jane's kitchen look a tornado hit? It looked like Nathan and his gf showed up late and were eating lunch around 5 pm. Fine she's not going to deny her grandson lunch. But Kelly, Katie etc. were just sitting around holding court lecturing about wedding planning and rehearsal dinners. I'm sorry but if the rest of you have eaten there is NO reason every inch of the kitchen island is covered with paper plates, plastic cups, dishes pulled from the fridge, potato chip bags etc. PUT STUFF AWAY. Someone walk around with a big trash bag after every meal and pick up every cup and plate that isn't being used and walk that bag out to the trash. IDK how old Gil's parents are - Gil is 56, so if they had him at 20 they are no less than 76. You really expect a 76 yr old woman to pick up after you bc you're too lazy to cover dishes and put them in the fridge or walk items to the trash!?

Right now the farm trip just appears to be Carlin & Evan; Law & Tiff; Katie & Travis. Maybe more of the married couples show up sometime today? Otherwise it just looks like G&K taking the kids who live with them. Interesting how C&E ALWAYS go on those types of trips that G&K take with the unmarrieds, while the other married couples really don't. I mean maybe this one is different since it's visiting the grandparents, I know see Brandon/Michael or another couple or two showing up, but by and large these married couples now do NOT glom onto weekend trips with G&K except C&E. C&E are always going down on beach trips etc with them when no other couple does anymore.

I wonder if Z will ultimately regret his decision + resent Whit and G&K for "forcing" his hand or nagging him relentlessly until he quit and/or be mad at himself for NOT being the headship here and saying sorry you don't like it but I'm not quitting until I hit 20 yrs with the city or whatever. Z more than any of the other kids has expressed "resentment" re how he was raised. Sure the girls like Alyssa and Josie have modernized in clothing and don't seem to want to hang with the family as much, but ultimately they don't have any provider or financial responsibilities for their families; they just need to squat down and give birth every year and it's not like your parents can prep you for that when you're growing up. Z OTOH COULD HAVE been prepped better (or at all) by Gil for being a provider - whether that meant going to trade school or college or joining the police force right out of high school. Instead I think he was left to figure it out on his own and somehow landed a job with the city and from there thought hmm the sheriff's office would be great, maybe I can get accepted at the academy and then did it. When Trace was planning to marry that girl from Dallas he was talking to Z about money/career and Z was the one who said -- go full time with the sheriff's office, you do long shifts so you'll only be working 3-4 days/wk and then use your downtime to pick up extra work with Chad to make more $$ and do this for as many years as you can when you're still young to save up. Trace asked - is that what you did when you were planning to marry W and Z directly said - no it's what I WISH I had done. To mean that screamed -- there was no one there to tell me to make/save a lot of $$$ pre marriage, but I'm telling you to do it bc you'll need it, it'll only help with down payments, dr bills when babies start coming etc. In in the last episode Nathan said something about sitting down and thinking about finances and how he'll pay the bills when married/will he have enough etc. I don't think him and Z are particularly close but ultimately I feel like if he wants concrete guidance in that area beyond "oh God will provide," I think he'd still go to Z not Gil. So having gotten into a full time job with great insurance + a retirement with like a 7-10% match he now gives it up -- no doubt bc Kelly was putting it in W's ear how awful it is that HER HUSBAND is the ONLY ONE who spends so much time away from the kids; works on the Lord's day blah blah -- W decided hmm that's right, no fair. All the other BILs work for themselves or work from home full time (Brandon) or are in school with long summer breaks (Evan) -- hmm my man is away too much, how is going to teach Bradley to be a man blah blah. Bc you know dads who work outside the home 40-50 hrs/wk totally mess up their sons for life [eyeroll]. W's done the song and dance before about how Bradley cries for Z when he's gone blah blah -- really a 6 yr old doesn't get that daddy works to provide!? Maybe you're not teaching him the right things about a man's role in the family. You know between that + Gil regaling him with stories of how it was great to work for himself bc he'd just bring his sons to work just like Z can do now (well maybe when they're old enough to dodge trees) -- you KNOW Z just gave up and went with what G&K and Whit wanted. And yet I wouldn't be shocked at all if in 2-3 yrs we start hearing sarcasm about it from Z, esp if say some brother in law starts working a ton (don't see that happening) OR say Nathan gets married and has kids and is still flying to small towns to give pilot lessons and the family acts like that's a-ok. I can see Z being jealous if he is forced to give up his good job but Nathan isn't. Same way he's been sarcastic about oh dancing USED to call up the devil but now it's classy -- LOL. Except this isn't stupid dancing, it's about providing for his family and chances are assuming they don't have issues getting pregnant, there are going to be a few more mouths to feed beyond the 4 he has.

So happened to stumble upon Bobby's sister's IG because she had posted something about having a first niece so I figured it had to be on Bobby's side. His sister's recent posts besides her own wedding -- how her father is such a successful business man but you wouldn't know it bc he's so humble (a fathers day post); and posts/IG lives about financial independence. Seems like she's a stock market investor bc she had posts about how a 20-30k car means payments of $400-600/mo and if you instead put that money in the market in 10 yrs you'd have X; 20 yrs Y etc. This is pretty standard stock market talk among upper middle class types of people who have the means and are always looking to grow their wealth beyond the six figures they may make from a job and are planners - prepping for retirement etc; she's pretty young - maybe 1-2 yrs out of college so I assume she was raised this way. Maybe Bobby really WAS slumming it marrying into the Bates family with it's - aw shucks you can live in a trailer when you move to Rocky Top; you don't need insurance, just barter with a dr; or why do you need a job with them fancy benefits (Zach) when you could be home "investing in your kids' lives all day every day . . . ." Super different vibe than the social media for say Evan's brother who is just as herp derp as the Bates - shooting his guns, pretending to be a cowboy or the keeper of law and order in society, making fun of people taking covid vax etc.

Surprised Katie is getting married at Castleton Farms though maybe not as I assume it's a $$$/comp for the show discount issue. But for people whose ONLY dreams in life are the engagement day and wedding day, you'd think they'd want something all their own without attention whores Carlin and Evan squealing every 2 seconds -- OMG we walked down the aisle this way; OUR altar was over here; Layla THIS is where MAMA and DADA got married blah blah blah.

Haven't read the last few pgs of comments but saw the pics yesterday of Jill's kids in the library with a stack of books and her comment that even the younger one got his own library card bc he can sign his name now. Her new life must be MIND BLOWING to her. The kids had a usual stack of books - something about Curious George at Thanksgiving etc. - not fundie religious booklets. So here she is reading with them or hearing them read all the stuff that was never allowed in her home bc them books would just teach you to hate God just like them public schools. How sad that she's reading some of these kid books at age 30+ but then again she's ONLY 30-ish and learning that lots of things in the world like books and school are not only harmless but also beneficial and have NOTHING in them that'll take away your faith in God. That's an opportunity most fundie women never get. If I was her - at her age having never read any kid materials - I'd be checking out the complete Babysitters Club series for ME (I mean she has boys so I doubt she'll read it to them). But oh such much to learn from fashionable stacy from NYC and Japanese American Claudia and Kristy the boss girl etc.

Just shows how short sighted they are + how they were raised with NO planning abilities + how they've developed NO planning abilities. Though they'd prob tell you that planning is going against God's will, God will provide, what else do you need to know, if you're laying elaborate career/financial plans it's bc you don't trust God enough and need to find your faith. I mean maybe he could not or did not want to be a cop anymore; maybe they were worried that 10 yrs or whatever on the force was enough and he was taking chances by going out on patrol with the weapons that are floating on the streets getting worse and worse. Fine whatever. But a normal adult with FOUR kids doesn't just up and quit to do nothing while spouting BS about investing in his kids. He then says ok I'm a county/city employee already with great benefits and only 10 yrs away from a full pension, I have preference for county/city jobs being an internal applicant, time to start working that network and apply to EVERY city/county/state gov't job I can and keep doing that until I get one. He could have applied for everything from bailiff and court security officer to more desk type jobs in the city -- everything from pushing paper for the police department to working in the city office that grants permits every time someone wants to put a pool in their backyard. Eventually something would have opened up - sure it may be 12-24 months of looking but show me one adult who hasn't hung in there with a job they didn't like for a year or 2 because of income and health insurance!? And yeah if I'm John, Kelton, Bobby, or Chad - I'm kind of annoyed that my oldest BIL the one we are all supposed to look up to - is straight up saying that going to work 40 hrs/wk to provide = NOT investing in your kids bc you don't care enough to be home with them playing games all day!?

Dumbest move ever by Z&W for Z to leave the police force (or county gov't generally) to stay and home "invest in his kids' lives like Gil did." Uh morons this tree business needs to support - Gil's family which still has 9-10 kids at home and now Z's family and 4 kids too?? And BTW in case Z&W hasn't notice Trace, Jackson, Warden, Isiah all seem like they're staying local in Knox and all have no real career plan. Sure they pick up work from Chad but when Chad doesn't have enough and these guys are all married with 5 kids each - guess what they're looking to for $$$, Gil's tree business. And then there's Law and Nathan. They haven't yet said where they'll settle but I'm skeptical that Law can afford to marry Tiff and live in Cali and I'm skeptical that Nathan will be spending as much time piloting once he's married with a few kids - so if they end up in Knox, there's 2 more families looking to supplement whatever their income is with tree income. So yeah brilliant idea Zach, tie your future to a small business that could ultimately be supporting 7 families PLUS yours. Good luck with that. If they're really decided he can't be a cop anymore/can't work for the man blah blah, then he better jump on the trade school road like Kelton, Evan, and John. That's the only thing that'll afford him a decent lifestyle w/o relying on a fledgling small business supporting 85 people. But these people are so old fashioned. I'm sure they'd be thinking school at 32 -- nooooo -- he's married father of 4, he can't be sitting home studying for exams he has to invest in his kids blah blah. Evan married at 24 and IIRC correctly had already been in electrician school for 6 months to a year then; he's 26 now and recently said on IG that he has 1 yr of school left (I imagine this is school + apprenticeship so that when you're done you can go straight to a job). So that means he was in school from ages 23-27 - 4 yrs. Yeah it'd be a commitment for Z to do that from ages 32-36 but sacrifice 4 yrs now for your life to be settled for the next 40+ yrs. And FWIW Evan does not seem THAT busy with school. He spends plenty of time dicking around on IG, editing YouTube videos, going away to his parents' house 2-3 times/mo, playing with Layla in the evenings, going to the Bates house in the evenings and playing handball/basketball etc., and in an IG last week just said he's on "summer break." So yeah I think in normal non fundie world - you go to this type of school + work at least 20 hrs/wk to support your family + still have some time to see your family. It's not impossible.

I too saw that IG video from I think Carlin where she was walking all over the store showing what was going on. I actually didn't notice Z's weight but I noticed him sitting in the corner on a computer and my first reaction -- you quit a full time job on the police force WITH BENEFITS to do THIS?! We all know Gil's tree business isn't a 40 hr/wk operation. It wasn't suddenly going to become 40 hrs/wk with Z joining unless Z is the one who decides to get super aggressive and starts soliciting business all over the state, rather than just waiting for a sweet friend to call bc they need a tree removed or just a random job here or there bc someone googled tree services and found the Bates. Clearly Z is not doing that. And the reason we know he isn't doing that + it isn't a full time gig for anyone is bc it doesn't seem like Gil does jobs alone. He schedules jobs for when at least 2 of Trace, Law, Nathan and now Z are available to go with him to do the work. Well Trace and Law are both social media obsessed. Anytime they have a tree job -- which is rare -- they MUST put up videos all day long about how great it is to be able to work with the bros blah blah. Based on that alone, Z doesn't have tree jobs except once every so often. And what exactly does the dress shop need from Z!? He was sitting on a computer so I assumed he was maybe doing something with purchase orders, inventory, or invoicing. But seriously between Whit; Erin; and Carlin, they really can't divide up that work!? And if it's needing him to lift heavy boxes or whatever - sorry but most families' primary bread earners don't quit their job to do that. You either hire a high school kid (or teen brother) to stop by the day shipments come to unload OR you have your husbands come that night to unload after work. Reality is I don't think he's really working now - not consistently. But he's a man - he needs to feel like he's working when for 3 weeks in a row he has no tree jobs. So at least by coming and sitting at the store, Z&W can both feel like oh MY MAN is SUCH a hard worker blah blah. I'm actually surprised we haven't seen him picking up jobs with Chad's business because he apparently has experience with concrete/foundation work and is generally pretty handy. But it looks like Chad has pretty much taken on Trace and Jackson full time or nearly full time and on bigger jobs he seems to call in Warden and Isiah for help too. He probably just can't take on a 5th Bates and still have $$ coming in for him and Erin; I guess on a really big job - like not just renovating a kitchen or bathroom - but an entire house, he could probably call in Z in addition to Warden and Isiah. But a 32 year old man with FOUR kids probably needs a better steadier income plan than his 16 and 18 yr old brothers who live at home and if they make $ from Chad this week, it goes towards saving for their truck or newest iPhone and if they don't, oh well there's always next week.

Yeah I could see them having 10-12 kids too. Whether that happens is dependent on her doing ok with pregnancy after pregnancy. So far her sisters have not been built to do that which is why I assumed she’d be lucky to have 6 kids; but I assume 1-2 daughters can probably pull it off. Tori may be that 1. And it helps in her case that her husband isn’t opposed/likely won’t start trying to slow things down after kid 6 as I could see Kelton, Zach, John etc doing. If anything I think he thinks, more babies in the house longer - gives me something to do every evening/weekend taking care of them or playing with them, keep them coming.

I mean no one can know for sure -- only his parents know for sure whether they like her or not. As to why people speculate that there's tension -- just the various reactions we've seen on the show. His parents just never seemed happy for him/with his life decisions. Like when he graduated college and moved to Tenn to be near Tori and was convinced by G&K that he didn't need an apartment bc some sweet friend has a trailer, his mom looked legit upset when they came to drop him off at the trailer. Speculation is she wasn't happy because they raised Bobby in a more well to do life; from what we've seen of Bobby's home and family, it is more upper middle class. He grew up in a nice home in a gated community in Fla. with a pool, their house backs up onto a lake etc. Even his college apartment which he shared with Kelton was pretty nice - a condo on the beach near school - so I imagine his parents may have subsidized that. Then both parents seemed annoyed regarding him proposing -- annoyed at him that he was moving to Tenn 10 minutes after graduation ready to propose and REALLY annoyed at the engagement day when Tori acted like a child. She legit every 2 seconds on the drive from Knox to Asheville (or some other mountain town in NC where he proposed) was like -- are you gonna propose now; how about now; now; where's the ring; is that the ring etc. To the point where his dad kind of snapped -- "uh do you understand the concept of 'need to know'" and she being an idiot was like no, how about proposing now now. So his mom goes with Kelly to decorate the mountain overlook where he'll propose, she seems kind of half hearted, and then after in the talking head all his dad says is -- "well it's not every family he could marry into that he'd get 19 siblings in law" just kind of unimpressed, almost mocking. Then at the wedding, during the vows Tori breaks out in fits of laughter and while G&K are all laughing along and aww, his parents were NOT amused AT ALL. They were just glaring like WTF is wrong with this girl. And after he wedding again in the talking head his dad goes "well he got hitched" -- like what you'd say about your coworker, not your oldest son getting married. Overall I just had the impression that they thought Tori (and possibly the family) was immature and dumb and not ready to be married. And likely were annoyed at their son too as he was being led around by his di-k by Tori and let's be honest Kelly's wishes too. Though I have a feeling they didn't say anything at all to their son OR gently said "are you sure you're ready, what's the rush," he didn't take the hint, and they didn't want to be more direct as in look she's dumb and immature why don't you date her for a bit until she is ready to marry OR date others who may be more a match -- bc they probably feared he'd move off to Tenn become Bobby Bates and they'd be out of the picture, which is kind of what has happened anyway. We've only seen them once recently at Kade's birthday. Tori didn't speak to them, nor did they make conversation with her and they barely interacted with Bobby. They doted on their grandsons but otherwise were just hanging back from B&T. So I feel like it's a -- play it cool so we have access to our grandkids but don't interact more than needed with Tori. FWIW I don't think he is IN LOVE with Tori and I think he IS annoyed by her, but he has found a way to make his life happy for him. He is IN LOVE with his kids and being a dad. He has set up a day to day life where he is with bestie Kelton 24-7. And I think he genuinely likes members of the Bates family unlike Kelton. Like I think he is THRILLED to have a house next to BIL Zach because that means they pal around daily or every few days in the evening. I think his perfect day is probably - get up, see/play with his kids, head to work with Kelton, get home around 5 and play with his kids for an hr, then dinner with Zach & Whit or just seeing Z&W after dinner -- nothing formal but just the kids running the yard and him getting to pal around with BIL Zach for a few hrs while Tori whines to Whit. By then it's 8 pm -- come home, get kids ready for bed, bible time, and lights out. Not a whole lot of interaction with Tori. I'm sure his life confuses his parents and they do wonder/worry about his happiness, but he's carved out a life that he'll tolerate. I think they're one of the couples that'll have 6-ish kids assuming Tori is able to manage with the clotting disorder and doesn't develop some of her sisters' problems. That means having babies until he's 30-32, raising the last kid until he's 50ish, and by then Kade and Kolter are 25-27 so the grandkids likely start rolling. Anything that keeps him occupied with family (his own or the Bates) and not TORI will keep him going.

IDK if they can handle kid #2. Can they even handle kid #1? Do they ever feed that kid real meals, ever?? Carlin just posted an IG video -- about 1 pm -- so lunch time and she's feeding her kid popcorn, peanut butter crackers, Capri Sun and ice cream. WTH!? I get it she's in that annoying age where she's not eating baby food but you also can't just grab her a sandwich or slice of pizza off of whatever hoagie tray or pizza delivery that may have appeared at Evan's parents' house for lunch time with the adults. So you have to make her something. But they seriously can't make her a grilled cheese or PBJ or heat up small amounts of dinner leftovers or some other real food like that? They're at Evan's parents' house for the weekend as usual. While the adults are chilling by the pool, I'm fairly sure C&E have full run of the house as they visit every weekend. I'm pretty sure Evan's mom -- Layla's grandmother -- wouldn't be like noooo you can't make my granddaughter whatever she needs to eat. I'm not suggesting the grandmom needs to be making food and cleaning up the kitchen, but that IS Carlin/Evan's responsibility. Between snack foods for meals + the fact that she constantly has a cake pop in her hand, what are they feeding this ONE year old!? I mean this isn't even a 3 year old who is whining for junk, they are literally just offering it to her daily!?

These girls just aren't built to have 19 kids like Kelly or even 8-10 kids much to G&K's disappointment I'm sure. Seems like most of them start having problems after kid 1 or 2 -- either them or the baby -- so then they can eke out a 3rd or 4th, and if we see a next round of pregnancies in another year or two to start trying for kids numbers 4-6, I think they'll be taking substantial risks. But I assume they are all planning to get pregnant again together in another 1-2 years from now because that's what God wants right -- more kids, risk or not. And for some the issues didn't even start after kid 1, the issues were with kid 1 or before -- Layla's heart; Michaela unable to get pregnant. Hope the incoming daughters in law have birthing hips and hearty bodies to be able to push out 8-10 kids each bc it'll up the grandkid numbers. Esther probably does. Tiffany likely does not -- petite Asian women (being from that culture myself) are just not that hearty; we can usually manage 1-3 pregnancies and that's it.

Tori is now a girl mom. Lord help that girl. Born at 5 am today and pretty tiny - under 6 lbs. https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-moms/pictures/bringing-up-bates-tori-bobby-smith-welcome-their-3rd-child/ Their latest kids have had rough births - per US Weekly - They went on to tell Us that the infant’s heart rate dropped ahead of her arrival, explaining, “In what seemed like a critical situation, the whole team of nurses and our incredible doctor worked together with us to deliver Charlotte safely and quickly. As is fairly common, the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck, but in this case, it was so tight that her oxygen levels were being affected. We are truly grateful that God showed His mercy and protected baby Charlotte. We are reminded of how fragile and priceless life really is, and we never want to take it for granted.” I will say Bobby makes better looking babies than bestie Kelton - prob bc he is a better looking guy with a better looking woman (IMO).

I was actually surprised by how clingy Jill STILL is. They've been married 7 years now. In that time he's been at Walmart for a year (or 6 mos?) + law school for 3 years. You'd think 3.5-4 yrs would give her enough time to get used to occupying herself 40 hours a week, esp with 2 young kids. I mean I know they've left (I think - IDK - I don't follow them as much anymore) the cult and are wanting to live a different life with only 2 kids that they actually raise, live independent of her family, have a more normal job etc. Yet she was still raised in that cult. They are raised to be wives and mothers. So why can't she occupy herself 40 hours/wk raising the kids -- drop them off at school, pick them up, do hw with them, cook for them, play with them etc.?? She acts like she's child less and bored or has grown adult kids and is bored!? I mean when she married at 22 and she was showing up to have lunch with him daily at work it was like ok this is weird but she has legit never known a man who is obligated to be someplace else from 8-5 and she freaked out with that much time at home. And then when he went to law school she was 27ish and I hear she used to sit in on some classes sometimes. While ludicrous it was still like ok she's NEVER been in any major university class on any subject and was raised in a cult where all in school education = you sit in a building 40 hours a week and they tell you God isn't real or whatever. So ok maybe it was useful for her to sit in on a contracts class and be like - this is boring as hell they are talking about what X guy said he'd pay for a tractor and then Y manufactured the tractor and X then said nah I don't want to buy it and Y couldn't sell it to anyone else, what does X owe. But it's been YEARS now between school + Walmart. Can she REALLY still not occupy her time? Doesn't look like it. I mean she survived when Derick was in class or in the library but it seems like the moment he walks in the door, she clings to him like a leech. I mean sitting in the same room isn't enough -- needs to sit right directly behind him and massage his head and shoulders when he studies bc her love language is touch!?

Maybe maybe not. People who take loans for law school, extend them for 2 extra months for bar studying and then start work in Aug. Even if you have no loans, there lines of loans offered from May-July to law grads so you can study full time. The big prestigious law firms all give you a sizeable salary advance (can’t recall exactly but about 15 yrs ago I think it was about $7000/mo) so you can study full time. This is a do or die thing where you’re expected not to work and study full time because a few thousand in grub hub income for 2 mos isn’t worth your career never launching bc you failed the bar and are now damaged goods. How did they support themselves thru law school - who paid the mortgage and utilities then? He should prob just continue whatever he was doing then for $ for 2 more months. Now granted I’m sure some people do study + work - I didn’t go to that type of school. But then you STILL have to study 40ish hrs/wk - so that’s 2 10 hr days on the weekend + get home at 5 and study from 5-11 pm daily on weeknights. I don’t see him or Jilly being capable of that AT ALL. It’d be a constant omg but my wife, my boys, who can live like this for 10 whole weeks?! So the weeknight studying would be w Jill getting her physical touch in laying in his lap or something.

I know it was "only" finals but people take law school finals seriously. It's not college (in certain majors) where it's like haha I can goof off and then pull an all nighter the night before and pull it off or just wing it. Every final exam prompt/question you're given in law school requires pages and pages of analysis to solve the problem they've presented to you, you can't just trick the professor by saying a few of the right vocab words. Maybe he's doing better with bar studying, but if his finals studying is any indication -- I'd be worried if I were Jill (though she has no clue why she'd worry, her man is a genius compared to anyone she's ever met in life or in her own fam). As @Absolom says people DO fail by being way to close to the margins -- i.e. they go into the last section of the 2 day exam on the cusp of passing or failing and then blow the last question. Ideally you want to do so well on the first part/first day of the exam that by day 2 you are feeling zero pressure (impossible - but as close to 0 as possible) bc you know that if you just 20-50% right on day 2, you've still passed. At least that was my strategy. I realize he has a family - it's different than my situation when I was 25 and could study from 9 am to midnight every day with no obligations to anyone but me. But reality is the few family people in my law school class treated both law school (esp finals) AND esp the bar like a job -- i.e. start at 8 am study until 5 pm -- no interruptions/breaks except a quick brown bag/microwaved lunch -- and then usually another few hrs from say 9 pm-11 pm after their kids were in bed. It's not like Derick with him having his 3 yr old talking in his office; Jill sitting there eating breakfast staring at him and chatting; then him running out to feed and train the dog; then taking out the trash; then sitting on the floor and "studying" and watching lectures with Jill massaging his head; then running out to pick up kids or take a family walk or whatever. Reality is I hope that at this late stage with exactly 1 mo before the bar -- he has clarified to Jill and Jill realizes he can do NOTHING all day but be locked in his office with no wife or kids coming in and out. She needs to feed the dog, run the errands, entertain the kids, entertain herself etc. without expect him to join in for 15 min here and 30 min there, which as the video showed ate up most of the day. And if they can't make that work, well put on a mask (though I doubt Duggars do that) and go hole up in the library 40-50 hrs a wk like it's your job. Or if you're being covid conscious (IDK if they're that type), rent yourself a private office suite and go sit there (commercial real estate is dirt cheap right now with the whole work from home thing) or go find a coffee shop with an outdoor patio that won't care if you sit there 8 hrs a day as long as you buy 2 coffees/day or something.

Travis and Katie follow each other's phone locations and in order to pull off the engagement surprise he needed to find an excuse to turn off his location so she wouldn't know he arrived in Knox. Ew. That seems stalker-ish of each other. Is this a new boyfriend/girlfriend thing or just a weirdo I don't trust the other person/MUST know where they are-Bates relationship thing?? Love how much Josie's gushing re making memories with Willow blah blah. Yet now with the 2nd kid here, no sign of Willow anywhere. Where did the light of their life go? Oh yeah she's staying with Aunt Katie at the big house - still - even though mom and dad have been home for days now. Really Whit - getting your nails done is HUGE before holding a baby for the first time? Yep gotta get those perfect pics. Where are they delivering that nurses. aren't taking at least a few of those nail colors off -- usually drs want to be able to see your nail beds for oxygen sat purposes. Though as social media whorish as the world has gotten, I bet nurses are used to being told not to take off the polish or take it off only one hand and that hand is then hidden in newborn pics.

As a lawyer myself, I clicked on the day in the life of a law student video thinking I could "re live" what that part of my life was like. Uh except it wasn't like that at all. How did he not fail out of law school? I only watched until 3 pm bc it was mind numbingly boring. But they get up at 6 am and from 6 am until 3 pm -- 9 hours -- I counted 2.5 hrs of studying MAX. And this is DURING FINALS when people study NON STOP. Even people who otherwise dick around (which you can't in law school as much as college) get it together and study 8-12 hrs a day at minimum. I mean he studied for 1.5 hrs max in the morning before leaving for his chiropractor. I discounted at least 20 min of that studying bc he had Jill in there eating breakfast and a 2 yr old running in and out and talking. This isn't college -- you're not going to understand caselaw if you're running a side conversation. Then he comes back and it's like aha he'll settle down at 1145 and study for the rest of the afternoon. Nope -- sits down for seconds but then DOG and then microwave lasagna and then Sam is asleep so time to study in the family room which Jill practically sitting on top of him massaging him (WTF?!) and then oh look 30 min of that and Sam is awake. Stopped watching there when he was like time to get Israel, family walk blah blah. If this is how he's studying for the bar, good luck. The bar is a memorization + reasoning test so it doesn't matter how smart you are, you need to do the work (and while I think Derick is fine, I don't think he's a genius). I.E. in order to do the reasoning part of every question you have to first remember some picky fact without which you won't even know what legal reasoning they're asking for. He needs to barricade himself in that office (or go to the library - IDK if they're covid conscious or just living normal life) and sit there for 8+ hrs a day esp now in July. Even people who goof off with bar prep in May/June all say if you don't buckle down from July 4 to July 25 (or whenever the exact date is this yr - it's usually late July 25-29), you are really risking passing. And if you have a job offer lined up and you don't pass, kiss that offer goodbye. And if you don't have an offer + don't pass, good luck finding a job, no one is going to talk to you.

Very true. John's HVAC business is an established family business. I think he's said they've been around for 15-20 years. They have a ton of employees. They go in, do their work, get a paycheck. Kelton is starting his own -- on his own. He has Bobby but reality is Bobby knows nothing about plumbing and can mainly just help with ordering parts, stocking the warehouse, invoicing, etc -- though I guess he could do business generation/sales too. But yeah Kelton said in a recent episode that when they started they were just using their 1 truck as their rolling warehouse. Now they have multiple trucks plus are renting a proper warehouse so there's a good amount of $$$ going out the door on rent for the property and possibly for the trucks as well -- it's possible he financed them or bought them with a rent to own type of lease. So yeah I guess he has to generate a certain amount of business every month no matter what just to meet those capital costs and to ensure he and Bobby have some salary. I could see that translating to frugal living at home. They don't travel. Josie seems to thrift store shop a bit still while the other girls have moved past that. They aren't constantly grabbing meals at restaurants either. As much as Josie can't/doesn't want to cook like most of Kelly's girls, she figures it out most nights and shows a lot of her 15 min meals or crockpot recipes and they round that out with Kelton grilling regularly. Earlier in their marriage (when Kelton worked for his uncle's established business), they were constantly going on coffee/breakfast dates etc. and we don't see that as much anymore - and I don't think it's covid bc even last yr when covid was bad if they wanted coffee or ice cream, they'd go and sit indoors no mask. But lately it seems like if they eat out it's a lot more grab the Dominos 5.99 deal and take it up to their favorite parking garage and enjoy the view (lol at the garage). So yeah if grabbing $20 worth of breakfast every week is something they don't do, I don't see them splurging on tix to Florida or anyplace a few times a yr.

I could definitely see that being the case. For the last few years it's been a parade of Bates visitors going down there to visit A&J and more importantly take care of her kids. With the move -- it was Katie down there multiple times along with Addie and Ellie (though they don't get a choice really); Carlin and Evan went multiple times to help paint and set up; even Trace/Jackson/Warden/Isiah went down there to lay floor and in general those 4 brothers visit her quite a bit esp given that they are brothers and not "obligated." In all of this J&K have been no where to be found. That's totally their choice esp to NOT show up to do manual labor for A&J's new house esp with Josie then pregnant. But they don't visit EVER. For someone who purported to be soooo close you'd think they'd visit at least one time in all these years. I mean at the time of Alyssa's first heart surgery, Josie hadn't even popped out a baby yet -- bc it was 6 months into her marriage. Again that is Josie and Kelton's choice but I imagine Alyssa judges that harshly bc in this cult while the baby is still inside you + with kid #1, you travel. It's not until kid #2 onward that you start bowing out of things bc it's too hard. Maybe Josie can't handle travel while pregnant or with 1 kid -- but you know Alyssa is like why not Erin did it when she just had Carson; Carlin does it etc. Everything is so comparative. Part of me also wonders if Kelton is a part of this. He gives off a controlling vibe and seems FREAKED out by pregnancy and childbirth. I see him being the type who "doesn't like it" if she travels while pregnant. She did travel though to Katie's dress shopping, though you have to wonder if she sort of "saves it" for big occasions like that rather than fighting with him to go down to Alyssa's just because; and Kelton may have been more ok with her going for the dress bc she was flying with a big group of family -- just in case she felt sick or something. Or it could be something broader. Maybe it's money. Kelton seems to take his business very seriously; John takes his work seriously too but Kelton moreso bc he's always talking about growing out the business. Maybe it is one of those -- nope you're not hopping on a flight to Fla. anytime your other sisters are going, I don't care if Allegiant tix are $50 it adds up. Maybe there's some jealousy issues -- I think Alyssa did feel superior being the first sister to marry into a comfortable living with a trades guy -- they were taking vacations, going on Sbux runs, date nights etc. before the other Bates were doing that (bc Brandon was working for that fundie org living in housing provided to them in expensive Chicago; and Chad was likely an hourly employee at that metals shop). Maybe she wanted that to be her thing -- and now here comes Josie with the same thing and it's "competition." I know Evan is a tradesmen too but still in school plus they seem terrible with money so it's probably not as much competition.

The parking lot was Jadon. But yeah Carlin did visit Hazel at home. IDK about the Josie and Carlin rift theory - they seem like people who didn’t have much in common to begin with, married very different guys etc. Josie and Alyssa is more curious.

Any truth to the rumor that there’s some kind of rift or new lack of closeness between Josie and Alyssa and also Josie and Carlin? Per redditers, Alyssa and Josie used to be super close; one was MOH in the others wedding; crying over the other getting married; at Carlin’s wedding when J had been married just 6 mos they both got hair/make up done early and snuck off to get coffee and hang out just the two of them. Can’t tell much via IG as J’s is just an ode to Kelton and Willow. I do notice J never like/comments on any Alyssa post even serious ones like her heart surgery. And it’s interesting that w just 1 kid we never saw J&K visit Alyssa & John in Fla; though to be fair it doesn’t seem like they travel - though I guess 2 babies in 2.5 yrs of marriage will do that. Not sure how close Carlin and J ever were so no idea if there’s a rift there Redditers go on about how when shooting videos w her sisters, if J is there Carlin purposefully ignores her and J has to find her way into the camera shot etc. Wonder what’s up though if it is a thing w J and 2 sisters, the commonality is J. And it appeared after the wedding so I have a feeling Kelton may have some involvement. Or I just don’t like him - lol. I do think it’s odd that lately Alyssa has proclaimed more than once that relationships change and right now she’s all about Carlin and Katie; she has said it in multiple Q&A videos.