One of the many things my parents did right

All of my 6 siblings and I are adults, married, and all but one have or are with child (come on T-bone just jump in parenting if fun.) we all get along, like really well.
To let you know how well we get along, My patents live overseas and all but one of their children live in a 30 minute radius of each other, and we get together all the time, we find excuses to hang out. This is still the case when my patents come to town, we love them too.
Recently I was wondering why, why do we get along so well? Why are we all such good friends? (oh yes and all the in laws get along too, if they did not then we would not be able to get together so often) But back to why we get along so well, I have to add to that not only do we get along, we help each other, there are always prayers going up to the Lord for this brother to have help with this and that brother to over come that (did I mention I have 6 brothers, yeah some day I will have to blog about that too) when we need help we ask and are flooded with helping hands.
So why do I have such an amazing family, I am not writing this to brag, I am trying to analyze in order to recreate the same love and friendship in my own little family, and I fill that I have been inspired as to one of the many things my parents did right.
My mom always felt out of place, never felt quite like everyone else and did not like the feelings that came with it, so what did she do, with her kids she made sure to except us each as individuals, I did not fill compared to my siblings growing up, I did not feel that I was not good enough, even when I had such a hard time in school, or when I felt like no one at school liked me I felt loved for who I was by my mom and dad. I was encouraged to set goals for myself, because it is good to be better, but the only person we can and should try to be better then is us, striving for perfection (with the help of Christ and the Atonement).
My parents encouraged us to be unique, and be proud of the things that made us individuals, and this sunk in well, if you come around to a family gathering you will for sure feel the individuality all over the house.
*The acceptance is not just within our family, but anyone who meets our family is welcomed with open arms, and because of this we have a great group of family friends that have kept in touch and who are still loved and welcomed.
Now as kids we did not always get along as siblings, each one of us trying to find out who we where sometimes found us mean, rude and even sometimes cruel, but I believe that is an experience that comes with siblings around the board, just as it comes sometimes with being with people around the board, we sometimes do "not nice" things. But as we grew so did our love as siblings, and because we where not trying to compete with each other, only with ourselves, as adults we have come to appreciate and count on each others differences and try to utilize them as a whole family. And because we respect each others differences, we are forgiving and understanding of shortcomings that sometimes slip up. We all slip up, but if we feel disdain and reticule instead of support to do better, and unfailing love we will pull away from those who we feel should love us, and that is not what family was created for. Family must pull together not apart. To fall alone is hard, but to fall then have a crowed cheering you on makes it much easier to get back up and keep trying.
I love my family for cheering me on, for loving me for the individual that I am and for, their forgiveness when I make bad choices, or hurt feelings.
Now I pray that I can help my children love one another for who they are now and for who they can be. Life can be so much easier when you have a crowed of loved ones cheering you on.
Thanks mom and dad, and Thank you my dear family for cheering me on and for helping me when I fall.