Nearly a month has past and I'm happy to report our antenna is setup! It wasn't as easy as I had hoped, and I had to call someone in the end, but doing my research here saved me a bunch of money.
I bought the recommended (above) antenna from Amazon:
Antennas Direct C2-V-CJM ClearStream 2-V Long Range UHF/VHF Antenna
http://amzn.to/RkRBCg
I decided to test things out by hanging the antenna out a 2nd story window. It didn't work very well. I decided it might be because of the distance between the antenna and our TV, so I went back to Amazon and ordered a Pre-Amp. I called Antennas Direct and they recommended their CPA19:
http://amzn.to/PRwsme
(I saved some money by finding one in their Warehouse Deals section)
I re-setup everything again with the pre-amp, and it didn't work any better than the first time. I decided to bite the bullet and called an installer. It cost a lot less than they quoted since I had bought my own antenna and done most of the homework, around $220. We popped the antenna on the roof and everything worked like a charm! The pre-amp wasn't needed either, so I was able to return it and saved some additional money.
I think the issue I had was that when testing I was just hanging it out a window by a string, so it wasn't pointed as precisely as it needed to be. If I had put it on the roof from the start, I might have saved even more money. Then again, hindsight is 20/20.
In case you are in the Seattle area, this is the company I went with:
http://homesatellite.com/LocalChannels.htm
I used them a few years ago to install a satellite dish, and they did a good job then and for this job too. They just removed the dish itself and used the mount to install the new antenna.
So all told I spent about $80 on the Antenna, and $220 on an installer: about $300 all in. We definitely get better reception than with the rabbit ears, and the living room isn't as cluttered. The cost was a little steep, but I just keep telling myself that I've been saving around $70/month by not having cable TV for about 2 years now.
Thanks for your help!