Jennie Larsen and Nicole Ramirez are a lot like many other Utah moms. The Payson sisters spend a fair amount of time taking their kids to soccer games, parades, the beach and other activities that require them to lug lots of stuff back and forth pretty regularly.

"Whenever you're doing outdoor events, it's like three trips to the car, you have to haul a million things. … A lot of times it's just so much hassle," Larsen, a 35-year old mother of three, told the Deseret News.

She said that after enduring some especially troublesome outings, she thought to herself that "there's just got to be a better way."

One day last August, it was that motivation that pushed her to begin sketching designs for a contraption that would enable her to consolidate all of the gear necessary for families like hers to better be able to enjoy outings, she said.

"My husband and I went to Home Depot and bought wood and hinges … and everything," she said. "Five prototypes later, we had our final product."

The final model of what would be known as the Shade Wagon took two months to develop. "I was literally working on it (day and night) … I never slept, I was so excited about it," she said.

The Shade Wagon is built by a local cabinetmaker and can hold up to 800 pounds, comes with all-terrain tires and numerous handles, straps and places for storage plus a 6-foot heavy-duty umbrella.

Larsen said she wanted to develop something that would carry "everything," such as towels, coolers, stadium chairs and music players and have extra storage for other items as well as provide shade from the summer's hot sun.

"All the stuff that I was normally carrying, I wanted it to do," she said. "There were things that I just flat-out quit doing with my kids … because it was way too much work … carrying everything from the car."

Larsen told younger sister Ramirez about the idea for the Shade Wagon and her need for a partner.

Though working with relatives can sometimes create animosity, Ramirez said she and Larsen have gotten along well all their lives and had already worked in a professional environment together. Both women work for a local homebuilder — Larsen as a sales agent with Ramirez, a 30-year-old mother of a 2-year old, as the office manager.

Ramirez said their individual skill sets "balanced each other out."

"Where I had been an office manager, I dealt with accounts receivable … but she's got more of the sales experience and outgoing personality," she said.