Mail problem copies of outgoing mail keeps going in trash

[batmik]

New to mac. Set up my email so my gmail acct is tied to Mail. Started using it more the last few days and while I am composing an email I see activity in the activity window like stuff incoming and outgoing like 4-8 emails. Later I opened my trash and found a bunch of stuff in there. The emails I am actually sending are being received but why are there sometimes multiple copies of emails I have sent?. I am not asking that anything sent be put in the trash. Any help would be appreciated.