Welcome to the forum, James.
Yeah, I suppose you could go slightly smaller on the rear sprocket while you have the wheel off, but like everybody is saying here, most of us have found that by just going a little larger on the countershaft(front) sprocket is a much easier task in order to accomplish what you're after here.
All you have to do is bend back the edge of the lockwasher behind the nut which holds the front sprocket on to the countershaft, unscrew it, pull it off, replace it with the larger sprocket. Of course, you'll first have to loosen and move your rear axle a little more forward in order to accommodate the larger sprocket. In all, just about a 10 minute job. And, as Dave[dmy] said, the front sprockets are usually a lot less in price than are the rear.
And, might I suggest for your suspension needs you might consider getting Progressive 412s, as I've found them to be a much needed improvement over the stock shocks, and they're a very reasonable price for this improvement as compared to Progressive's more upscale and more expensive units.
