Q: linking CONTACTS to facetime and messages?

i've got a mac air and a mac pro running yosemite and neither the FaceTime or the Messages apps seem to be syncing to my CONTACTS.

this seems to work fine on my iPhone running 9.2 (or whatever) but things seem a bit funky on the computers.

does anyone know if there is a way to get my contacts' NAMES to show up in the Messages app (like on my phone) instead of just a phone number? it is super hard to know how to use this app on my computer if i can't tell who the thread belongs to.

also, is there a good way to CALL a contact on the FaceTime app? maybe i am using it wrong but i don't see a way to call someone from my contacts.

i am synced to my icloud/me.com account in the SETTINGS > iCloud on all my devices.

THANKS