Caramel Brownie's Road Trip to Utah: Part One

 

 

Ahhh...Utah!! Where the scenery is bountiful and beautiful! Also where slogans : 'This Is Still The Right Place'; 'Life Elevated'; 'Greatest Snow on Earth', and ' In God We Trust' reign throughout the State and on license plates.

Now, before this 17 1/2 hour (well technically about 20 hours when you factor in our rest stops and eating breaks) from Oklahoma City to West Jordan, UT (our hotel), I had never had the opportunity of visiting Utah. My hubby's 91 your old grandma, may she R.I.P. (his mom's mother) had passed; he wanted to be there for his parents and to pay his last respects. Although our visit was under sad circumstances, I was pretty excited to be going just to be able to meet more of his extended family on his mother's side that I haven't been able to meet yet. Plus I was finally going to cross Utah off of my map of places never been.

I had read and been told by many that Utah is a beautiful state. I must say that I definitely wasn't disappointed with the beautiful scenery of snow covered mountains, views and surroundings. Now my ears, on the other hand, didn't appreciate constantly being popped majority of the time, but I had plenty of gum and suckers handy to help with that minor distraction. Guess it's safe to say, that's why the 'Life Elevated' slogan was created.

Since our hotel was less than a 1/2 hour away from Lehi, I wanted to go see the Brown's infamous plyg home for myself. Not to mention that one of my all-time favorite movies, Footloose, had filmed a few scenes at the Lehi Roller Mills in 1984. Please bear with me; I will eventually get to my visit and pics of Lehi. I just wanted to share a few fun gems and experiences I had hanging out in Salt Lake City and West Valley City with his huge family.

My husband's 1st cousins had planned a bbq/cocktail get together for Friday evening. Since it was pretty much pot luck style, I asked if we could bring something because one of my pet peeves is showing up empty handed, even if we're told it's not necessary. One of the cousin-in-laws, who I had met before at a family reunion, immediately requested I make my homemade mac and cheese, since that had been a hit at the reunion. I said no problem, as long as I could use their kitchen. I have to say, I was a little bit intimidated only because of the size of my hubby's extended family. Now mind you, over the past couple of years, I've been able to sort of get to know a few of his cousins via Facebook, so that helped ease my nerves a bit.

So before we get to his cousin's house in West Valley City, we have to make a mandatory stop at a liquor store to pick up some liquid family gathering cheer in a bottle.

Say what??? OH DOUBLE SNAPS!!! Damn someone hurry up and get me some o.j, cranberry, ice…then shake and pour!!

Yes, that is Five Wives Vodka you see in front of you! My hubby and I were totally cracking up when we saw these and I couldn't wait to share these fun pics with my peeps at SWB. Hey I wonder if Meri has any Five Wives Vodka stocked in her wet bar?....HA!

Ok, enough clowning at the liquor store, we had places to be, people to see, food to eat and booze to drink! We arrive at his cousin's home and they were all very welcoming and greeted us with hugs, etc... After the greetings, we go to the kitchen to make some cocktails, chit chat and so I could make my homemade mac and cheese, which happened to score me some extra brownie points with his extended family, especially the little kids...Lol

When we're all sitting around eating, drinking, getting better acquainted and listening to all the 1st cousins tell stories of growing up together, my ears overheard one of the twins say that he's a police officer for the Grantsville, Utah PD and that his older brother( who wasn't there) was a police officer for Salt Lake City PD. OMG! Ya'll should know that a million questions started racing thru my mind that I wanted to ask about the Brown's without sounding too much like a groupie psycho fan. Also, my hubby saw my face light up and I kid you not, he just buried his face in his hands and started shaking his head, saying "oh no, here we go".....Lmao Yes, he knows me too well ;) But I was gentle and did hold back a bunch since it really wasn't the right time or place. I did ask him what he thought about the Browns and their lawsuit. I also asked why Utah continues to be a safe haven for polygamists to dwell since technically polygamy is illegal. Well after a short pause, he responded that he's not personally fond of the Browns (along with a majority of Utah...) and thinks the lawsuit was just to get ratings for their show. Interesting! He also said they just really don't have the resources to prosecute all polygamists living in Utah because there's so many of them, unless they're committing fraud, rape, incest. Then I interjected that the Brown's not only committed welfare fraud, by practically bleeding the beast for many years just to survive before they came into TLC $, but most likely tax fraud too. He just explained his own personal experiences with a couple of polygamist families he knows and how they're self-sufficient and don't depend on the government for handouts. I said, well that's maybe just a small handful, but majority of the polygamists live in poverty and depend on the government for handouts. He then again stated that unfortunately they just don't have the resources to go after everyone practicing polygamy. But I could also tell he was holding back what he really wanted to say. So I don't know if that's a good or bad thing? Or maybe he just really couldn’t spill the beans too much on the matter, which I would totally understand! **Sigh** Ok, I had indulged and harassed the family police officer enough about the Browns.

Fast forward to Saturday night. A few of us went to dinner downtown SLC to Squatter's Pub. It was a pretty popular spot and we had to wait about 45 minutes, but it was totally worth it. I highly recommend this place!! Great food, great hand crafted beers, and great prices! Plus they also have a little gift shop inside with some fun Polygamy novelty items which you can check out at their website. Again I ask, I thought polygamists didn't drink alcohol?? Hmmmmm??? FYI, this pic is courtesy of Google, because unfortunately my lil HTC One camera phone pic didn't come out as clear. I wish it had though, because downtown was covered in snow and had a really pretty view.

My souvenir Squatter’s Pub Shot Glass. Some handcrafted beers we tried were Chasing Tale Golden Ale and Provo Girl Pilsner, which both were quite tasty and refreshing. Also, you can sample beers for .99 cents out of dessert size shot glasses, which I think is a pretty cool option to try before you commit to a pint glass.

It was a fun evening and we all really enjoyed ourselves. I was miserably full from good food and beer, so I was ready to go back to the hotel and rest up for our visit to Lehi and Riverton (AUB church location) the next day.

Finally it's early Sunday afternoon and we're headed to Lehi. Since it was lunch time, we wanted to check out a locally family owned spot just to try something different. Well, it was closed on Sunday. Grrrrr.... Now I just didn't want to go do a mad dash drive by and snap pics of the Brown's plyg house either, because I wanted to drive around the small town and kinda get a feel of what it would be like to live here. Dang, let me tell ya, I was soon over it all in less than 30 minutes...Lol IMO, when the Browns become broke again and are forced to move back to Lehi, they will definitely all be unhappy and their family structure will certainly suffer more and be on an even more shaky foundation than what it's on now. They've had a taste of 'fame and $$' and Kody will not be happy moving back to the quiet town of his dirt farm. His wives, especially Meri, will become even more bitter and I just really feel sad for the kids, because they'll be the ones truly suffering - especially when their parents start throwing tantrums instead of acting like grown adults and taking responsibility for their families.

That's me!!

When we exited for Lehi, turned right and came to the 1st stop light, I immediately see the Lehi Roller Mills. That excited me, so I immediately wanted to get pics.















Conveniently, Lehi High School is located just behind the mills, so I went ahead and took a few pics of the school too.

Look at those mountains!

Lehi High School doesn't appear to be too shabby of a high school. I'm pretty confident it's way better than the AUB plygy school. Ok, I'm sure ya'll have been 'schooled' enough with my pics of Lehi HS. Besides by this time my internal lunch bell was ringing blaring, so off we go to in search of a local food establishment...

Stay tuned for Part Two of Caramel Brownie's ear-poppingly good Road Trip to Utah !!

Misc News...Diva's Day out with Kody Brown Family!! Canada/Utah Polygamy

Twisted Sister Artwork

Lobotomized Artwork

 

Found on Craigslist:

2/23: DIVA'S DAY OUT w/special guest "The Kody Brown Family" (DAVIDBARTONGYM, TIVOLI VILLAGE)

See Ad at: http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/eve/3613417444.html
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On a more serious side, an article from the Sun entitled " Utahns lobby against polygamy with a little  help from Canada."
There’s Canadian content in a new brochure that was hand-delivered Wednesday to Utah state legislators by a group that opposed to the decriminalization of polygamy. The brochure quotes from the decision of B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Baumann’s decision in 2011 that concluded that Canada’s anti-polygamy law is constitutional.
The constitutional reference case was started by the B.C. government in response to concerns about the polygamists in Bountiful, who are members of two separate fundamentalist Mormon groups. The one group follows Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; the other follows former FLDS bishop Winston Blackmore.
Read the rest at: http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/02/13/utahns-lobby-against-polygamy-with-a-little-help-from-canada/

original date 2/18/13

2/28/13
There's still room available for comments on this article, so I've bumped it up. Please feel free to post your comments here for discussion.
CJ
 

I Scour the Internet: The Oscar Night Edition 2/24/13

I just have to get something off my ample chest.

Not only have Meri and Robyn changed the photo on their Twitter avatar (guess it beats the egg I have), Robyn has changed her background color.

Now, I don't have a problem usually with backgrounds. Or colors. But Robyn's retina searing bright yellow (with a definite orangy tint)  is...well...a bit too much. Don't get me wrong, I love yellow. I painted my bathroom a beautiful light lemon yellow once. But this overly bright  orangy yellow  just screams a forced cheerfulness from Robyn.

Methinks the honeymoon is finally over. Well, at least we can be thankful she couldn't pipe "Don't Worry, Be Happy" as background music on her twitter page as well. Thank you Twitter !!

What could possibly be worrying our dear Robyn? Oh, I don't know...she does have that huge McMansion to pay for...maybe Kody said "Hell NO" when she asked for a maid. Or maybe she's finally realizing how much she's in, way over her head, both financially and plural marriagely (I made up a word, ya'll).

Let's ponder this situation while we peruse her recent tweets, shall we?

 

Interesting quote, isn't it? Being that Kody is not the best example of fatherhood, Robyn tweeting this quote is almost like she's passive aggressively shooting that proverbial warning shot across the bow of Kody's surferdude ship. So Kody, from the thoughts of your favorite wife Robyn, be aware that your actions speak louder than your words. And cut that damn hair and get a REAL JOB!

Okay, why can't she look in the yellow pages or on the internet like the rest of us mortals? I also wonder what kind of insurance Robyn has if she's asking her fans about a dentist. What if the dentist isn't in her network? Funny, did I miss Kim Kardashian tweeting her fans for a gynecologist? Or Heidi Montag tweeting her fans for a new, affordable plastic surgeon?

Weird...really weird.

On the 21st of February, Robyn tweeted this plaintive twat...

And then on the 22nd of February, she twatted...

Hmmm..... and then we have on the same day...

I should have said early morning, because the 2/22/13 twats were tweeted at 2:00AM and 4:00AM... Interesting that Robyn keeps such late hours. Sounds to me like Baby Sol ruined her 'night' with Kody, and then the next night (or morning), she had to consoled herself with #memories because Kody was warming someone else's bed and she was >>choke<<  lonely. No wonder she changed that twitter background - she must really be feeling blue!

Poor, poor Robyn. At least her mom and "dad" got together for a brief moment. I wonder if Robyn's mom had a honeymoon experience with dear old "dad". He's looking kind of happy in this picture...if you know what I mean.


In contrast, we have Janelle's twats, which just goes to show she may not be the most svelte of the wives, her children are the more accomplished.

Case in point, Janelle's tweet about Hunter. She even explains his nickname!

 

And let's not forget that Maddie was elected Student Body President!!!!

How about the fact that Janelle and Christine are now "employed"....

That leaves Meri and Kody...we know they are involved somewhat with that MLM green koolaid job...but that's kind of died down now. I mean really, when was the last time Meri tweeted about having a get together, or traveling to Utah for a meeting. But you have to read their facebook page to  see that they were recruiting inviting folks at a crafts show to benefit ovarian cancer on Saturday. A grateful fan thanked Meri for being "...such an approachable and pleasant lady". The fan was so impressed she wrote that she can't wait to bring all her friends to Meri's next open house.

Yowza...Let's hope MSWC did donate the SOMETHING(besides their presence) to the event, because otherwise it looks like they used it to benefit their family's wallet. Well, those McMansions weren't free ya know... but damn!

That's all for now, and remember that I Scour the Internet so you don't have to!!!

PS...Here's hoping that Denzel wins!!

Sister Wives Valentine Presents

I'm sure you were out looking for your favorite Valentine present, of course with your favorite Sister Wives pictures on it...(who wouldn't want that for Valentine's day??) so Twisted Sister put her handy-work touches on a few things... Enjoy!

Will we ever get over the wetbar? Not on your life.

Show your SW love by wearing them!

Wetbar fiasco, or as I call it, "Extreme Narcissistic Home Makeover."

Polyamy Candy Dream!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY FROM SISTER WIVES BLOG!

Thanks to Twisted Sister for all her work!

 FREE DISCUSSION BELOW!

**All original pictures on this or any other page are not to be used  without written permission of SWB. Thanks!

I Scour the Internet : Mardi Gras Edition 2/12/13

I've heard through the SWB grapevine that the Kody, without his Ko-dypendents, was sighted recently (sorry I am too tired to muddle thru twitter and facebook for the fan photo of Kody at Wendy's...but let's discuss the ramifications of that sighting in a moment). Kody and the Krew even shared dinner with Papa Joe and his Twins including the twin's Cousin who happens to be the legal wife. I imagine Papa Joe took the opportunity to go over the summary of the Brown's court case that they refuse to show up for because Kody's just too scared to show his face publicly in Utah (unless it's a Wendy's, of course).

Here's the tweet from the Dargers with Kody's response....

Enjoyed dinner last night with @realkodybrown and @rosecolored6 last night. So nice to catch up!
— TheDargerFamily (@TheDargerFamily) February 11, 2013

So nice to see @meribrown1 @janelle117 & @luvgvsuwngs tho the visit was too short.
— TheDargerFamily (@TheDargerFamily) February 11, 2013

"@thedargerfamily: Enjoyed dinner last night with @realkodybrown and @rosecolored6. So nice to catch up!" Come to Vegas more, we miss you.
— Kody Brown (@realkodybrown) February 11, 2013

Now I ask you. Was Kody in Utah or did the Dargers make a return trip to Vegas? I'm putting my 2 cents on Papa Joe and wives making a return trip to Vegas to camp out in Kody's cavernous overpriced McMansion he shares with Meri and Mariah. And I'll double my bet that this was all filmed for the show. See Meri...you could have had Papa Joe build that counterspace for your pastries instead of adding additional bedrooms and that ugly wet bar. Then again, I doubt Papa Joe would work for free.

On the subject of work, Meri tweeted this after 'working hard' for an half hour or so  fulfilling those 3  MSWC orders she ignored all week....

I'm smiling tonight as I ship jewelry to some guys, knowing some gals are going to have a pretty cool Valentine's gift! mysisterwifescloset.com
— Meri Brown (@MeriBrown1) February 7, 2013

Let's just hope if these gals are married, their hubbies don't say something like "Oh, by the way, I've decided to marry a second wife. Enjoy your Sister Wife's Closet Valentine's gift!"

And Trainer Sean tweeted this informative (if not disgusting) picture of the perils of eating fast food:

Now, can we talk? Supposedly, Kody was spotted recently in a Wendy's. Maybe he was there using the facilities...but for some reason, I say that sly man child was sneaking out some fast food behind the back of Trainer Sean. At any rate, I hope Trainer Sean understands he's going to have to use more than non-rotted 3 year old hamburgers and fries to stop Kody and family from indulging in the greasy,  impervious to spoilage fast food they apparently can't live without. And for the record, something tells me that green koolaid the Browns are swigging will last a thousand years or more without spoiling. Easy...

That's all for now. Remember, I scour the Internet (well, all right, Twitter) so YOU don't have to!!











I Scour the Internet: The Post Super Bowl Pre Mardi Gras Edition 2/7/13

Let's see....it's been over a month since the season finale of Sister Wives.

Looks like the Dargers are stepping up to the challenge of being PFOTUS by making appearances in the courtroom where the Browns lawsuit is being heard, now that poor Kody Brown is still too afraid to step a foot back in  Utah. Yeah, right....

Trust me Kody. Being a pretend surfer dude is not a hanging offense in Utah, at least not this week. And from what I can tell, there are no laws against bad haircuts, either. So you're safe...at least for now.


So what have the Browns been up to this past week or so?

Looks like Robyn is still making friends and influencing enemies (or is that making enemies and influencing friends?) ANYWAY, she's up to her old twitter tricks. She must have gotten a book of quotations for Christmas. Now I can understand the frustration of not being able to tell anyone about moving into her McMansion in the cuddle sac, but it looks like she wants to rub all the little people's faces in it. I mean, not even reality 'star' and real-life Countess, Luann DeLesseps would stoop so low as to twitter this philosophical quote to her fans:

"Living well is the best revenge." - George Herbert. :-D.
— Robyn Sullivan Brown (@LuvgvsUwngs) February 6, 2013

I mean, really! What's next...Let them eat cake? Well, to quote the Countess DeLesseps,

"Money can't buy you class...Elegance is earned, my friend"

Right back at ya, Robyn!

Just like last season, Robyn has taken it upon herself to let everyone know the status of her TV show Sister Wives...which means there is no status. But don't tell her that, it will blow her mind!

Hey just to let you all know, we can't answer whether or not we will have a new season or when it starts.That is up to TLC to announce. TY
— Robyn Sullivan Brown (@LuvgvsUwngs) February 6, 2013

Hmmmm....guess Robyn didn't have time to read the EXCLUSIVE report by hollywoodlife.com that TLC announced season 4 was a definite go. Hey Robyn! Here's a link for you and your fans!
Hollywoodlife.com: TLC Renews ‘Sister Wives’ For Fourth Season

I don't know about you guys, but I think this just shows that Robyn definitely has got the smarts needed to make her Sister Wife's Closet a major success. In fact, she even takes the time to lecture a previously troublesome bonus child how being a success takes more than just dumb luck.

Hard work, talent and perseverance will always get you farther dumb luck!Don't break character.You have what it takes @brownboss99!!
— Robyn Sullivan Brown (@LuvgvsUwngs) February 3, 2013

I think maybe Hunter would have appreciated a simple "Way to go!" but you got to admit that if anyone should know about dumb luck, it would be Robyn...

On the Meri homefront, we see that she's already testing out that wet bar/pastry counter space in her luxurious McMansion. Well, I think it's Meri's McMansion. At least it looks like Meri's furniture, but there's that weird photograph of Robyn's wedding on the mantle.

If you look closely, you can see 2 empty bottles of the green koolaid hanging out on top of the massive fireplace mantle, too. So who's McMansion is this?



To prove just how wrong those nasty rumors are that the teens don't like to party at her house, Meri hosted a Sadie (Hawkins maybe?) party at her McManse and tweeted about it.

Sadies date night at my house tonight. 8 kids hanging out, a surprisingly quiet group!
— Meri Brown (@MeriBrown1) February 2, 2013

Well, actually not too surprising since those kids most likely saw what happened to poor Drake. I would be scared into being quiet, too. I bet there was not one spill on her perfect furniture and standard carpeting, either.

Christine tweeted a picture of her Super Bowl desserts...

Love your expensive serving china, just like mine!



And Janelle burned the granola she was making (lets hope it was a low calorie recipe)

I just munched on celery sticks and olives...So that's all for now, everyone. And remember, I scour the internet so you don't have to!

Sister Wives Jewelry...Blog Style....

Twisted Sister has been doodling...I mean designing jewelry for the blog.

According to Twisted Sister..."I also felt the need to design a new paw print for a future Wife #5, because I know that Robyn is busy with a toddler wrapped around her legs and learning how to tie adjustable apron strings while updating the website with new spelling errors."

 

Awww. now we have our own necklace! Finally we're starting our Jewelry Collection! 

This blog logo certainly would appeal not only to sister wives but sister  pups! Create your own SWB logo and send it to us!

UPDATED: NO, this is not a sister wife giving the bird, it's a wetbar! TS sent this in, adding: "I figured Meri would want to be on a different paw with her own wetbar, and also have the option to add additional wives as she chooses."
 

Are you feeling creative? Send us your jewelry, apron, or other creations. We certainly believe that our readers can create better designs than those being sold! mysisterwifecloset.com has been a huge curiosity and a huge disappointment one would think for the die hard fans. It would be interesting what we would have sold in T shirts alone! 

If you haven't read our number one post before, be sure and see the review from Cynical: 

Get out your Credit Card, mysisterwifescloset.com is ONLINE

http://sisterwivesblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/get-out-your-credit-cards.html

Feel free to discuss what you want on this post, and send us your creations!

(All pictures sent in by Twisted Sister)