‘Sister Wives’ leaving Las Vegas for ‘slower’ Flagstaff

Las Vegas Review-Journal

6 years ago

The Browns, the polygamist family featured on TLC’s “Sister Wives” program. (From left to right) Meri, Robyn, Kody, Janelle and Christine. (Sister Wives/Facebook)

The polygamist family featured on TLC’s “Sister Wives” program is seen in one of its Las Vegas homes. Surrounding Kody Brown are his wives, top row, from left, Janelle and Christine; bottom row, from left, Meri, Kody and Robyn. (JERRY HENKEL/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL/File)

Wanna buy four houses?

A friend asked me that Friday. This is a facetious overture, loosely based on the fictional game of Sister Wives Monopoly.

But in reality, the stars of “Sister Wives” on TLC are moving out of Las Vegas, leaving their quartet of homes, and seven-year Las Vegas legacy, behind.

For the uninitiated, “Sister Wives” is a TLC series centering on star/husband/father/polygamist Kody Brown and his four wives: Christine, Robyn, Janelle and Meri; and the quintet’s 18 children. The family has lived in four homes in a gated community in northwest Las Vegas since 2011.

But this summer, the family has decided to uproot and move to Flagstaff, Arizona,(credit People.com for breaking this piece of pop-culture news). “There’s mountains, we’ll be living at 7,000 feet elevation,” Kody Brown says in a TLC clip specifying the family’s relocation.”Small town, quiet, beautiful college.”

Kody is speaking of Northern Arizona University, home of the Lumberjacks, which sits at the base of the San Francisco Peaks. Beautiful place. Cold, though.

For a time, the family was spotted at events around town. I encountered them a few years ago on the red carpet for the opening of Nevada Ballet Theatre’s production of “The Nutcracker” at the Smith Center. But as Robyn Brown said, Flagstaff is “a little bit smaller, quite a bit smaller than Las Vegas,” says Robyn.”We’re moving because we want kind of a slower lifestyle.”

The family is apparently not yet moved out (their vehicles are still parked out front). I hear their neighbors are hoping for no fuss connected to the relocation, but the Browns were reportedly good neighbors.

They always kept the camera crews’ cars outside the gates during filming. It was easy to forget about the comparatively unusual family structure. The kids were available for babysitting and pet sitting. In that way, the “Sister Wives” made some friends.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.