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Here's the tweet from Robyn showing Sol wearing those headphones....
My awesome find!Sol loves music.It totally relaxes him and helps him fall asleep.His loves lullabies by Jewel. twitter.com/LuvgvsUwngs/st…
— Robyn Sullivan Brown (@LuvgvsUwngs) July 29, 2012
also this tweet from Janelle just a few hours ago!
Did u see our Solomon sporting his nifty headphones?He loves his music - like Daddy.It's a great way to keep him patient when we r out!
— Janelle Brown (@JanelleBrown117) December 31, 2012
This week, the family goes on a trip to Nauvoo Ilinois. Why Nauvoo? Well, as Kody explains it, Nauvoo is where "...we get our origins of for plural marriage." Oh no, viewers have asked for more details on the Brown's religion, and I think this episode is going to be one long, boring, religious history tour. 
Funny, it seems Mykelti feels the same way - from the mock gunshot to her head, to her assessment that the trip will be "... boring...you get to learn about your culture. You get to learn history." I suppose she'd rather go where her big sis Aspyn wants to go, to Disneyland of course. But the producers aren't paying for Disneyland, they are paying for Nauvoo Illinois. Two RVs, traveling over 1600 miles in only 3 days. 
So, this production induced pressure test is soon underway. As Meri described her plan of driving 526 miles in about 9 hours, we can see failure looming ahead. And when Christine just mentioned the possibly going off the plan to fit in an attraction, First Wife Lady Meri intoned "We're not going to do something if it's not on the plan." Christine doesn't back down. In true Former Favorite Wife style, she told the adults " The more we talk about it, the more I'm done...Just have fun without me..." Yikes, looks like the pressure's ON.
Back on topic, after making an obligatory stop at the pawn shop that owns the Hyrum Smith Farm (more about that later) and some Mormon history on an artifact that some poor Mormon had to pawn, the Brown Krew got back into their RVs and continued onward to their first stop. Looks like Meri's estimation of 8 hours was a little off as it actually took 16 hours to get to the first pit stop. Now, a reasonable person would have approached First Wife Lady Meri and said something like...I think your original plan sucks eggs. This isn't going to work. You're FIRED! But alas, they only have Kody "Hi! My name is Kody Brown and I'm a Polygamist" Brown to work with, so he calls a family meeting. Meri's solution to the dilemma? Next morning, leave an hour earlier. And she adds an "I'm just saying for me." as if that will make it better. Kody offers nothing - no guidance, just nothing. He is obviously in over his head. The producers must be happy because what they wanted to happen, happens - cracks are forming...how long before it breaks?
In a couch interview, Kody says that he likes to maintain a schedule to spend time with his wives, and that he'll "rotate based upon where we're at." Ooopsy, the Brown Kodettes (particularly Meri and Robyn) do not like the word 'rotate'. So now I'm thinking, what other word could Kody use? Conjugal visit? Booty call? It is what it is, ladies!
By day 3, the Brown Krew are already a day behind, and there's the problem with high winds. So Kody drove into a Rest Area and approached the RV Meri was driving (with Robyn apparently riding shotgun). Poor baby was tired because he'd been driving all day for 2 days straight and he needed to rest his big ole balding noggin. Kody does not do 'having to work' well.
In the talking head, we see confirmation of what we have known all along about Kody: He's a flipping idiot. When he says "...I wanted to bark orders and have them obeyed." it was like, where did this come from? He can barely communicate, and he wants to bark orders and be obeyed? What leadership book has this joker been reading? And do we really need to see Robyn's take (not to mention a repeat of the previous 5 minutes) on Kody's implosion? Guess the producers thought this was so good it had to be shown twice. Thanks Figure 8.
I'm going to skip Truckhenge, because I agree with Christine about the owner..."He drove me nuts...He lives in the middle of nowhere...he hates the government." Funny, but those words could describe 99% of the fundamental polygamists in North America. Anyway, Kody thought the kids liked it, I think the kids liked it because it gave them something to do instead of sitting for 18 hours in a RV.
Oh no, Kody is having another breakdown. Seems the motel that Robyn and Christine require, is located 12 miles away from the RV park. Kody is beside himself. He's tired and now he has to drive two of his wives 12 miles to their motel. He even sort of yelled at Meri, who promptly put him in his place with a stern "I don't think you need to be barking at me about it." Geez Meri, all Kody was trying to do was to tell you that he was not waking up at the crack of dawn like your schedule required. 
Well, I think Papa Joe would have told Robyn and Christine forget about the motel, you're camping out tonight. And Meri would sternly be told 'Shut up and listen to me. Your schedule sucks raw eggs. So make room for Robyn and me in your RV. NOW.' But Kody, alas, is not Papa Joe.
Finally, the last travel day and the Krew is on their way to Hannibal Missouri. Frankly, I don't see the relevance of this segment other than the reading of a rather insulting Mark Twain story about his meeting with polygamists in Salt Lake City. Major fail, because it was just not that funny and was really dumb. But we did get a view of Robyn's stomach. I don't think she's pregnant, I think she forgot to pack her spanx. In fact, I noticed in this segment everyone in that family has a pot belly. Perhaps Kody should have invested in a gym instead of MSWC if only to get his own family into physical shape.
In Nauvoo, we see the family arriving at the Hyrum Smith's home. The way their children ran and rolled around the lawn kind of made me think of all those kids running and yelling in that cul-de-sac they just moved into. Bet there are some real happy neighbors. 
And I really don't understand why the producers had to include a Kody Brown dumbed down explanation for everything Joseph mentioned in his tour. After a rather descriptive lecture on the jailing and death of Joseph Smith, we came to what will go down in Sister Wives history as plyg-gate. Yes, I'm talking about the Brown Krew being told they were not welcomed at the museum across the street. Now, we don't know exactly why the museum director apparently made the decision not to admit the Krew, but I have a nagging feeling that there is more to the story than what is being told. Who knows? Maybe he saw the Brown children rolling in the grass at the Hyrum Smith Farm and decided no way, not in his museum. Perhaps some day the director will come forward and tell viewers exactly why the Browns were denied entrance. 
All right, let's just get the Drake situation out in the open. What is obvious to me is that Kody took this sad event as an opportunity, once again, to feed his insatiable need to be THE CENTER of attention by showcasing his return to Utah for the first time. Come on, digging the grave while the dog is walking around, wagging his tail? And that oh so dramatic 'breakdown' ? When Kody says "This is so depressing" all I can do is scream at my poor TV, 
Kody wasn't suffering from the emotion of digging a grave - he was suffering from the effort of doing W.O.R.K. And don't be fooled when Kody 'cries' about not being able to say goodbye to his home in Lehi. HE STILL OWNS THE HOUSE IN LEHI... and left Lehi because he always wanted to live in Las Vegas. Kody has got to be the WORST actor on the face of this planet. 
Poor Trainer Bill. He has officially left the building and Trainer Sean has stepped in as his replacement. Janelle has finally admitted to herself that she's an emotional and stress eater, and how a 10 pound weight loss in 6 months just doesn't cut it. She has also come to the realization that maybe it was better to exercise on her own rather than with her sister wives. With a set goal of losing 100 pounds (and her trusty green kool-aid to keep her hydrated), she now exercises in the early morning, when she knows her sister wives are still sleeping.
So what's happening on those McMansions? Kody and his Kodettes go to Mona the real estate lady's office to finalize those options, like which cheap looking granite (out of only THREE cheap looking choices) for the counter tops, and that Meri still hasn't made all her decisions, but is still over budget on just her first page of options. 
Despite all of this ominous foreshadowing, we are still shown the ground breaking of the McMansions...well, Christine's McMansion. They even celebrated with some red colored bubbly drink. But back on the couch, Kody explained that " We have a bunch of work to do, from the time that we make a contract to purchase the homes til where we are actually purchasing them." When Meri tried to clarify by saying "...so really we could go through this whole process of looking at the homes and picking everything out and getting so excited and something could happen and we could not be ..." Kody didn't let her finish, saying instead "...we could lose it altogether! This is not a guarantee!"
But business before pleasure. Yes, I'm talking about Mykelti's dream of being a fashion designer. Was it just me or did Mykelti not look too excited about meeting a real fashion designer? I don't know, when I was Mykelti's age I wanted to be a designer too. I had notebooks upon notebooks of designs for dresses and shoes and hairstyles. But I'll tell you one thing, if I met a real life designer (Mary Quant was my idol) I would at least act somewhat excited about it. Maybe the fact that Kody took over the segment had something to do with it. It just didn't feel - right.
Frankly, there was no need to have Kody present, period. Kody, in his personality, chooses - no he DEMANDS to be the center of attention, even if it's a 5 minute segment about his teen daughter's aspirations to be a fashion designer. Note to Figure 8: This could have been a 30 minute show about Mykelti working with this avant-garde fashion designer. That would have been interesting. Kody, in his personality, trying hard not to ogle a fashion model getting into a garment was not interesting. It was weird.
At least Mykelti's mom Christine had something to cheer about. In confronting her failure, she finally succeeded in passing her real estate exam. So even though Kody was not very supportive of her, it was wonderful to see her smile while saying " I passed!" to her family. Equally delicious was her dig at Robyn, Meri and Kody when she mentioned how wonderful it will feel when she brings home her first commission check that she will use to pay off a family debt (most likely either Robyn's old Victoria Secret bill or Meri's cost overruns on her McMansion options).
This little trinket will set your credit card back about $300.00 !! It's embarrassing to hear Kody's half brain explanation for the outrageous pricing. "In my head..." he begins, "our pieces I wanted to be somewhat iconic in the sense that they're different, they're unique to us, and they're not cheap." In other words, hold onto your wallets, Kody's gonna RIP YOU OFF!
To the left is an image of the graphic we saw on the show.
That's basically how this episode was constructed. The Browns send 3 teenagers (Aspyn, Maddie and Logan) to Utah to do volunteer work. While there, they encounter a recalcitrant young woman who is so anti-polygamy, she leaves Aspyn speechless and Maddie in tears from her less than nice retorts ( Logan, wisely, doesn't get involved). The Brown teens return to Nevada with their new Utah 'friends' to show them how the Brown version of polygamy works. At a picnic, the recalcitrant teen softens her stance somewhat, Maddie and Aspyn dress up in FLDS dresses, and later, Christine calls the men of the Kingston group 'bastards'. Recalcitrant teen realizes Kody is a real dad. Sadly, the only thing missing was everyone singing Kumbaya around the campfire. 
Why was Kody shown 'interrogating' Aspyn about her ability to maintain the company line concerning polygamy? Did I hear her say 'polygamy has been very very good to me' to Kollene (formerly known as the recalcitrant teen)? Why was that clip shown at the beginning where Aspyn said she wasn't interested in polygamy, and then miraculously, a few seconds later she now wants to be in a plural marriage? Was she changing her tune because Mariah "I want to be a doctor and a plural wife" wasn't going on this trip?
Is anyone glad that Meri did not cry, or say the word 'wet bar' in this episode? Does the picture above illustrate that Meri and Robyn could share a kitchen without being abusive to each other? Does Hunter know Kody is wearing his shirt? 
Did anyone feel weird when Kody made a point of saying his favorite picture of his family was taken at Robyn's wedding reception? Why did Kody need to say he had 1 pair of running shoes at each of his wives houses? Why does Kollene look like she's not falling for Kody's slick talk? Who was Kollene's stylist and can production hire them for the Kodettes and Brown teens?
Was anyone surprised when Nicole mentioned her 27 mothers were too busy fighting for the attention of their husband, ignoring their children altogether? Was anyone surprised this went right over the heads of Kody and Janelle? Isn't 'plural monogamy' basically how the Browns are living right now in their four separate homes?