General Days

I'm so sorry. No. I wouldn't ask a question that personal in a forum like this. I lost track of the conversation. I misinterpreted your post as being a claim that Christine got 80/20 coverage. Thank you for setting me straight.

Christine bought a rental property as an investment. That's why she chose it without David. That is, she wanted to invest some of their money in an income-generating property. He trusted her with it (or it was her money to begin with), so I'm good with that. I thought they made that pretty clear on the show, but maybe I read it somewhere. Either way, I'm glad to see her earning money someway other than predatory MLMs. As for makeup, since the dawn of the pandemic, I have made it my personal mission to subject the world to my old-ass face without makeup, whenever I please. Look. There is redness here and fine lines and wrinkles there. I have moved my face for 50+ years. I have not always used sunscreen. Shit has happened to my face, while I have lived. Honestly though, and I say this kindly @Yeah No, because you are (truly) one of my most favorite posters in this forum. Would you have said that about a man? I actually enjoy makeup. I think it is fun. I work from home, so I mostly get to ignore it, but I use it when we go out to dinner or shopping, or whatever. However, I refuse to be ashamed of my face for being a face that has lived. Christine gets on my last nerve. She is A Lot. While she is no Robyn, Christine is also no day at the beach. But... There is nothing wrong with Christine's face She looks great for her age. Christine is an attractive woman. I hate to see women shamed showing their own faces. In my opinion, it is worse than body shaming. Give a sister a break. All she did was let people see what she actually looks like. There should actually be no shame in that.

What I have read (NO IDEA IF IT IS TRUE), is that Christine got a cheap insurance plan, with a huge deductible ($50K) in advance of Ysabel's surgery. I know that in S16.E05, Christine said (in a self-recorded car segment in the hospital garage or something similar — see attached screenshot), that she started applying for insurance after she realized Ysabel was in pain every single day. I don't think Christine did a Go-Fund-Me for the bills. She sold her crap to fools willing to part with their money for moldy leggings and ugly shirts. I hate MLMs, but they're not a new concept, and I'm watching my television without pity for people who perpetuate them by buying and/or selling their crap in a predatory business model. Back to Christine (and Kody). It is so frigging irresponsible to be pulling in the kind of money the Browns were pulling in with the show (even if was not BIG BUCKS, it was comfy middle class bucks), and have six kids (or 18, in Kody's case), but not get health insurance for them. I have literally taken jobs I hated, for the health insurance. My husband chose the job he is in now, because of our chronically ill child's particular need for insurance from a company that would cover treatment at a certain major medical center in our area. (And don't get me started on the political side of this. That is not aimed at any of you all. It is aimed at the Browns, whose politics are pretty baked into the cake at this point, which would be all well and good, had they not lived off the social safety net for decades.) In my opinion, the Brown parents are all grifters, all of them, including the ones with whom we sympathize. Do you remember where you got the 80/20 from? It doesn't comport with what I've heard (but I cannot back up what I've heard, except from Google hits that lead back to Reddit posts, which is probably where I heard it).

Did she do a Go Fund Me, though? I was under the impression she just did a lot of live sales to raise the money.

Did Christine solicit donations for Ysabel's surgery, or did she just sell her then LulaRoe crap?

I feel like TLC would promote the hell out of a final season, as the "final season," if they planned it as a final season.

Repeat after me: "I am borrowing it for my aunt. I guess it's a big hit at her assisted living facility." I definitely want that chapter on Janelle too, laurakaye. Get on that, Jenn, wouldja?

Me too, but I don't think Meri will be forthcoming. I want a book from Meri that Jenn drags out of her, after Meri has been given sodium pentothal.

Thank you. You make a great point about camera phones. We probably would have seen more evidence of drinking or gambling than Kody and Robyn out to dinner or shopping in Vegas. He doesn't look like he regularly drinks to excess, either. By your 50s, if you consistently abuse alcohol, it tends to show. Kody can look silly, with his corkscrew curls, but he does look pretty healthy. I do wonder if he's not on testosterone supplements though, and if that accounts for some of his personality change.

Also, she's full of it, because last season, she TOLD Meri (on the show) that one time, she tracked how much time Kody spent with them, because he spent a disproportionate amount of time with Christine. Plotz Plot: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/plotz-plot

In the Flagstaff scene after the one in which Aurora made her request to Kody, Kody asked her if the pastor was okay with this, and Aurora said he was. That's the main reason I wonder if Aurora isn't just fluffing Kody's ego, by asking if he'd baptize her with her pastor. That is, I think she's framing his role to sound more involved than it might be. I've looked at it too. Aurora's church looks like an evangelical non denominational church. It's just a new one (it's a church plant), which is probably why they're renting space in a strip mall. They likely don't have funds yet to buy land and build. I know some property out on Coyote Pass they could probably get pretty cheap. 😉 I know I've used "mainstream" a lot in discussion of this episode. In my case, it's just to differentiate between LDS/AUB/Other-Mormon expressions of faith, and those Christian denominations and groups that didn't spring from the Latter-day Saints movement. I'm not in charge of who gets to call themselves a Christian, so I have been using "mainstream" as another way to indicate not LDS/otherwise Mormon. Meri has said so, too: https://people.com/sister-wives-star-meri-brown-gives-rare-update-on-her-child-leon-exclusive-8760871, @SunnyBeBe. I'm another one who is pretty sure David was just joking. Plotz Plot features a bright orange container with huge lettering. David is just one of those Dad Joke dads.

Does everyone remember when the family first moved to Vegas how the parents met with a Protestant pastor about sending their kids to youth group, so they could meet kids being raised with similar values? Robyn shut it down, which made Kody shut it down (even though he'd been interested in it). I think Christine sided with them. Janelle and Meri were disappointed, because they thought the older kids needed the social outlet. Flashforward to Flagstaff. By the time they got to Flagstaff, Robyn had kids who had to move as teens. (Janelle and Christine did too.) Anyhow, some of the kids started attending a youth group run by Young Life (an evangelical organization that runs social clubs for teens and young adults). Gwendlyn, Ysabel, Aurora, and Breanna are in a couple of photos of Young Life gatherings that Gwendlyn posted on Instagram in 2018. I remember seeing them shared before. I also remember watching the kids pray on the show. In early seasons, they all used to cross their arms in front of their chests, while the family prayed. Some years later, they were all praying for something, and I noticed at least Gabriel praying with folded hands. LDS/Mormon people traditionally cross their arms as their sign of reverence, while most of Christendom folds their hands (fingers interlaced) or clasp their hands together like this: 🙏. I think some of these kids have been exploring non-LDS Christianity for a while, and that maybe it has resonated with Aurora (and Breanna?) for some time. It's just that now she is old enough to do something about it. She would like her parents blessing, but she no longer needs their permission. I strongly agree with you. That's how Aurora struck me last night, during those scenes. This means a lot to her, but she loves her parents, and quite honestly, she may hope for their conversation some day. And? If she told her pastor that, and told her pastor that her dad still loves Christ, but his connection to the AUB is pretty well severed, and asked if Kody could be involved in the baptism somehow, the pastor might have said yes, to make it easier for Aurora (and as a form of outreach to Kody and Robyn).

You're right. The gambling thing (rather than "drink and drugs") is a little weird. I think I'm going to watch a second time, too. Last night, I think I wondered if Janelle's hesitance was because she was trying to not discuss Robyn. It wouldn't matter any more, because Robyn's oldest three are adults, but it seems to me there was something Robyn and Preston Jessop's divorce or custody agreement which specified no drinking around (Robyn's three oldest) kids for either Preston or Robyn. If it the Browns made that a rule of caution for the family, for a long time, it might have momentarily tripped up Janelle. Just a thought.

What Aurora said was, "I would like to ask you, would you baptize me with my pastor?" I think, as asked, Aurora's request could play out a lot of ways. Watching it, I mostly felt in the moment like Aurora learned how to manage Kody from watching the master — Robyn. I don't say that to be mean about her. I think she's a sweet kid. I just think Aurora gets that Kody likes things to be about Kody. It's possible she just worded her request that way, because she has been raised to center Kody — it's second nature to her. And with her request, his "suspicions," which he mentioned a minute or so before melted away, and he was all, "She's following the right path." I do wonder if they'll film the baptism. Unlike LDS and AUB Temple proceedings, mainstream Christian baptisms are usually done during services which are open to the public. You don't need some equivalent of a "Temple recommend" to attend one. The church might allow production in, or they might let the Browns record it (like on a phone) and share the video with the show, or it may stay unfilmed. If we do see it on the show though, I will be interested to see what Kody's level of participation turns out to be.

Good topic. Thank you for posting something to take me out of my own head and my own life for a while. I'm going to blather at length about it, because denial ain't just a river in Egypt. ALCOHOL Kody could have a drinking problem, but I tend to doubt it. A YouTuber, who should not evoke fortune telling in her name, pushed that rumor. The kids who've acknowledged that Kody will have a drink have also said he doesn't drink a lot. GAMBLING I know several non-gamblers who visit Vegas for other reasons. Shopping, restaurants, etc., can be more affordable (so that people will spend more money gambling). The Browns lived in Vegas for years. It's a big city within a few hours of Flagstaff, and it's one they know well. They have family and friends in St. George (which is close). Two of their kids live in Vegas (Logan, Hunter). Could Kody have a gambling problem? Sure. I don't think going to Vegas is evidence of it. SHOPPING More than one of the Browns have acknowledged Kody and Robyn have shopping issues (and we seem to have seen evidence of that in their possessions on the show). I think that is more likely than drinking and gambling. TONY Tony is maybe a bigger Kody apologist than even Mykelti. Mykelti and Tony have indicated that something caused some distance between them and Robyn (and I guess from Kody). I don't follow their Patreon anymore, so I don't know what they've said recently, but even after they acknowledged that distance, they were ardent Kody and Robyn defenders. I've watched Tony twist himself into an absolute pretzel, trying to rationalize Kody's bad on-screen behavior. I don't think Tony was shading Kody with that remark. I think Tony is awkward and a black-and-white thinker. He is also pretty straight-edged (I seem to recall he has never had a drink of alcohol). He wasn't a practicing Mormon for too too long after his conversion and mission, but I think the outward signs of morality appeal to Tony — that they're somehow easier for him to process.* To me, his comment about David just sort of reveals how Tony sees the world. There's some truth behind Tony's statement — in that losing a spouse to suicide and being left to raise eight kids would have wrecked some people. I suspect that in Tony's mind "gambling and alcohol addictions" are how he's envisioning wreckage. * Example of this: because the Browns stopped wearing their temple garments under clothes at some point when they lived in Las Vegas, Tony insists they don't believe the religion. In Tony's head there's no, "Well, they believe a lot of the teachings about God, but think a lot of the rules about coffee and underwear are silly." A person can still have the basic worldview of a fundy Mormon, or a Roman Catholic, or a [insert your religion of choice here], while disregarding some of the more surface stuff. Unless that person is Tony.